An Affair to Remember
by gleefullyLea
Summary: Home from school sick one day, Rachel discovers and unsettling secret about her father. Rachel/Puck pairing.
1. Chapter 1

**So I've been writing this off and on for awhile now, not intending to post it, but now I think I want to share this with everyone. I hope you like it :)**

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Shelby slipped into her daughter's room and over to the nightstand beside Rachel's bed, hitting the off button on the teenager's alarm clock before it could go off. As much as she wanted to reach out and feel Rachel's forehead to check her fever, Shelby resisted out of fear of waking up the finally sleeping girl. At some point in the middle of the night, Rachel developed a fever, cough, and sore throat. Shelby had given Rachel some medicine to help her sleep, but it didn't do much to help. Rachel spent most of the night tossing and turning while dealing with her pesky cough.

Without touching Rachel, she could tell the girl had a fever and little beads of sweat were formed on Rachel's forehead, but she was wrapped up in her blankets so tightly that Shelby would disturb Rachel's slumber. It wasn't until just an hour or so ago where Rachel started to get comfortable and was able to sleep. Instead of tugging at the blankets, Shelby reached up and pulled the cord to the ceiling fan. Setting it on a medium speed, Shelby turned around and attempted to leave the room.

"Mom?" A groggy and hoarse voice broke the silence.

"Yes, sweetie?" Shelby whispered. She was hoping Rachel would ask to stay home from school today, but she knew better.

"Can you start my shower?" Rachel asked, ending her question with a series of coughs.

"Honey, I think you should stay home from school today." Shelby softly said, walking over to the queen sized bed and sitting on the edge of it. She began to rub her hand up and down Rachel's back. "You still feel really hot and your cough is getting worse."

"But I can't miss any school. I won't have a perfect attendance record." Rachel whined. She tried to sit up but her actions were blocked by Shelby gently pushing her back into the nest of blankets she had created.

Shelby tucked a thinner blanket around Rachel, leaving the heavier ones off to the sides of Rachel. "Rachel, you are sick. You are not going to school today or even tomorrow. I am going downstairs to make you some breakfast so you can take some medicine and then you are going back to bed. And when the doctor's office opens, I am calling to make you an appointment."

"But mom." Rachel whined again.

Shelby held up a hand, silencing the girl. "Not another word." Shelby's firm tone warned Rachel to not argue with her. "I need to wake your sister up and then I will be back with your breakfast."

"Okay." Rachel sighed, which caused her to cough.

Shelby closed the door to the bedroom as she walked out of Rachel's room. To the right, at the end of the hall, Shelby's youngest child, Beth, was still asleep and needed to be woken up so she could go to school. The blonde haired girl was happily tucked into her twin sized bed, with her blankets laid perfectly over her tiny body. Unlike her sixteen year old sister, soon to be eleven year old Beth, was not easy to wake up and get off to school. Shelby knew Beth would try especially hard this morning to try and get out of school.

Sitting on the bed, Shelby pulled back the comforter and began to rub Beth's stomach to wake her up. "Good morning, Baby." Shelby said when Beth began to stir. "Come on, you gotta get up for school."

"Can I stay home?" Beth asked before she had even opened her eyes.

Shelby rolled her own. "No, you aren't sick, you have plenty of clean clothes, the bubble gum is out of your hair, the cut on the bottom of your foot is healed, and you didn't 'accidentally' forget to do a homework assignment. You are going."

Beth, whose eyes were finally open, dropped her jaw in shock that her mother had somehow known which excuses she was going to use. Just as quickly as her jaw had fallen open, she closed her mouth and glared at Shelby.

"What? How did?" Beth stammered but settled on whining. "Mooom!"

"Get up, Beth. You have ten minutes to be downstairs for breakfast." Shelby said, walking out of the room.

On her way to the stairs, Shelby stopped by Rachel's room, making sure the girl was still in bed and not trying to get ready for school. A small smirk crossed her lips when she saw that Rachel was in her bed and fast asleep. She closed the door once again and went down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Even though Rachel was asleep, Shelby was going to make her something anyway. It was getting close to the time where Rachel could have her next dose of medicine, which would hopefully put the girl to sleep. Shelby pulled out a bowl and a whisk, along with the ingredients needed to make french toast.

Since Shelby worked at McKinley, where Rachel was currently a sophomore, the small family, including her husband Hiram, were able to get into a routine that worked for the entire Berry family. Shelby's day started at five thirty, with her needing to make Hiram breakfast before he went off to work at six. Getting a whole forty-five minutes to herself before making sure Rachel heard her alarm, Shelby took this time to take her shower and get dressed for the day. To save Rachel and Beth from arguing over the bathroom in the morning, Shelby started making Beth take her bath or shower the night before and waking the ten year old up fifteen minutes after her sister, gave Rachel enough time to shower and do her hair and makeup before Beth charged in demanding the use of the bathroom. And by the time the girls were done getting ready, Shelby had breakfast made and the three enjoyed the few minutes they got before having to leave for school and work. Most mornings didn't go as smoothly as Shelby envisioned, but they came pretty close.

As she plated Beth's food, the youngest Berry daughter came into the room right on time. Beth sat down at the kitchen table, asking her mother to put her hair into braids. Shelby set the plate of french toast, eggs, and sausage in front of Beth and returned to the kitchen counter, opening a drawer of random items, pulling a hair tie out. Between Rachel and Beth taking their hair ties and bobby pins out and throwing them on the most convenient place at the time, Shelby had a growing collection around the house, including the food pantry, courtesy of Rachel. Standing behind Beth, she picked up the brush the girl had brought down with her and began to brush through the long, blonde locks. It was a huge surprise to everyone when Beth's hair started to grow in blonde after her birth. Many people believed she had been adopted as her mother, father and sister each had dark hair, but she had her mother's eye shape, which both girls had inherited, though all three had a different color.

"There you go." Shelby said, securing the single braid down the center of the girl's back with a light pink hair tie.

"Thank you, Mommy." Beth grinned.

"You're welcome."

Shelby kissed the top of Beth's head, reminding the girl to take her brush back up to the bathroom so it wouldn't get lost, when she was done eating. Shelby made her own plate of food and sat down beside Beth to eat.

"You know, I really think I should stay home today." Shelby gave a sideways glace to the girl, silently warning her to stop while she was ahead. "No really."

"Why is that?"

"Because, there's a field trip today and I forgot to have you sign the permission slip and I didn't turn the money in on time." Beth said. "The kids who aren't going have to stay at school and do worksheets all day, I don't want to do worksheets all day, and they are boring."

"Well then it's a good thing I found the permission slip in the car during my lunch break last week and took it to the school with the money."

Beth sighed. She did not want to go on the field trip to the planetarium, it sounded so boring.

"Yay." Beth sarcastically rolled her eyes.

"I know you don't want to go, but there is going to be a project assigned based on the field trip and I will not let you stay home in order to avoid having to do it."

"This isn't fair." Beth huffed, dumping her cleared plate into the sink. She grabbed the brush off the table and started to go up the stairs.

"Well, when you're older you can go to therapy and discuss how bad of a mother I was because I made you go on a field trip." Shelby mumbled loud enough for Beth to hear.

Beth stomped up the stairs and into the bathroom where she dropped off her brush. She realized her sister had not yet come out of her room and her breakfast was going to be getting cold. Pushing open the bedroom door, Beth saw that Rachel wasn't even out of bed. Mom was going to kill her.

"Rachel, Rachel!" Beth hissed, climbing on top of her sister. "Get up, mom is gonna kill you if she finds out that you're still sleeping."

Beth shook Rachel a couple more times, finally getting her sister to open her eyes. "Beth? What are you doing?"

"You must have fallen back asleep, mom has breakfast ready." Beth said.

"Get off me you little booger." Rachel groaned, pushing her sister away.

"Hey!" Beth shrieked having almost fallen off the bed. She steadied herself and started poking Rachel in her face, something she's done since she was a year old. "Get up. Get up. Get up."

"Will you shut up?" Rachel gruffly yelled. She wrapped a hand gently around her throat, tears pricked her eyes at the painful soreness.

"What is going on in here?" Shelby asked, walking in with Rachel's plate of food, a glass of orange juice, and some medicine. "Beth, quit irritating your sister, she doesn't feel good."

"She's sick? Is she staying home?" Beth questioned.

"I feel fine." Rachel said, sitting up and pushing both Beth and the blankets off of her. "I can go to school."

"I don't feel fine." Beth began feigning sickness by holding the back of her hand to her forehead, topping it all off with a dramatic cough. "I'm so sick, Mommy, I think I need to stay home."

"You are going to school so go get your shoes on." Shelby firmly told Beth and then looked at Rachel. "And you, get your butt back in that bed, you are staying home."

"But mom!" Both girls cried out, unhappy with Shelby's ruling.

Shelby shook her head and set Rachel's breakfast on the desk by the door and left the room, making both girls believe they had each won over their mother. Beth hopped off of Rachel's bed, debating on which set of pajamas she wanted to wear for the day. Rachel did the same and was wondering what she was going to be wearing to school. However, Shelby returned to the room, grabbing Beth by her arm and pulling her into the room with her. Letting go of Beth, Shelby took the basket she was carrying under one arm and held it with both hands.

"You have until the count of three to do what I said or you will find some things missing and you will _still_ be doing what I said." Shelby started to count but it didn't take her until the count of two for her daughters to start scattering. Rachel dove under her covers, acting as if she hadn't been out of bed and Beth bolted from the room, saying she was going to get her shoes.

"Mom, I really don't need to stay home. I'll take the medicine and it will make me feel better so I can go to school."

"I'm sorry, Rachel, but you are staying home." Shelby helped Rachel sit up and propped some pillows behind Rachel to help support her. "Here's some food, you probably won't eat it all, but you need to eat a few bites so your stomach doesn't hurt from the medicine. I need to take Beth to school and I have to go to work for a little bit, but won't be gone long. Try and get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay." Rachel nodded.

"And take your medicine."

"I will."

"Good girl." Shelby bent over and kissed Rachel's forehead, feeling the heat from her fever. "I love you and I will see you in a couple of hours."

"Love you, too."

Rachel got a short lecture from Shelby about the rules to the house while Shelby and Hiram were gone. She tried not to roll her eyes or appear to be annoyed, it wouldn't end well for her as she knew Shelby wouldn't tolerate it and she didn't want to spend her day at home grounded. Minutes later, Rachel heard the garage door open and then close, telling her that her mother and sister were gone.

Taking her plate, cup, and medicine down to the kitchen, Rachel left them on the kitchen table. She had eaten half a piece of french toast and a bite of eggs, but she wasn't really that hungry. And she wasn't ready to take her medicine and go back to bed just yet. Right now, Rachel wanted to be in the room that comforted her most when she was sad or didn't feet well; her mother's office.

It was located down the hall from the kitchen, next to the front door. She walked into the room, moving around the desk and sat down in the chair. For the most part the top of the desk was organized with the exception of some sheet music. She reached out and picked up the half filled in pages, looking at the new song her mom was working on. Rachel realized the song wasn't new, it was a song Shelby use to sing to her when Rachel was little. It had been awhile since she had heard the song, but she could hear her mother's voice in her head, singing. Noticing a few of the words were wrong and out of place, Rachel picked up the pencil and fixed her mother's mistakes.

The wall behind Rachel was filled with pictures and trophies Shelby's glee club, New Directions, had won over the past five years since Shelby took over as their coach. The Spanish teacher, Will Shuester, had been the coach for three years, but when his wife got pregnant with their son, he decided to step down and spend more time with his family. Shelby was only teaching English at the time, but her love of music, Broadway, and performing, drew Shelby to coach the team. After Shelby signed on to be the coach, the team started winning and the school board finally agreed to give the club a budget that equaled that of other clubs like the Cheerios.

When Rachel had started high school, Shelby had hoped her daughter would join New Directions; those hopes were crushed when Rachel came home with a try-out permission slip for the cheerleading squad. But Shelby supported her child and signed the slip and fixed Rachel's favorite dinner when she came home two days later saying she had made the squad. And Rachel had thought that she'd be a part of the glee club when she had first started high school. She had stood in front of the school club signup sheets, ready to sign her name on the purple colored paper Shelby had printed the audition list on. She had the pen in her hand, but stopped and watched a few of the popular girls writing down their names on the Cheerio sheet. Rachel had been in dance and gymnastic classes since she could walk and with that, her mind was changed.

The walls to the right and left of the desk were lined with bookshelves, holding Shelby's massive collection of sheet music and vocal selection books. Rachel stood up, walking over to the left side of the room, running her hands over the bindings of a row of folders containing sheet music. She smiled, thinking about the many Saturday's she spent with her mother, going out for an early lunch and then a trip to the music store to see if they had anything new. Though, Shelby and Rachel still went on their sheet music hunting trips, they didn't happen as often, as Beth started getting older and wanted to tag along too. It made Rachel mad that Shelby would let Beth go with them and slowly, Rachel just stopped wanting to go when Shelby would offer they go. As she looked some more, Rachel decided that once she felt better, and when Shelby would let her out of the house, she was going to ask her mom if the two of them could go. Surely, she'd say yes.

A coughing fit hit Rachel and the girl decided she was ready to take her medicine. She hated being sick and really hated that she was missing a day of school, something she had never done before , butshe wanted to feel better as soon as possible. The only way to do this was rest, fluids, and medicine. Rachel went into the kitchen and took the medicine Shelby had left out and drank the entire glass of juice. While she was getting a bottle of water to take upstairs with her, another cough attack. Once she stopped coughing, Rachel went upstairs, not to her bedroom, but her mother's. She climbed from her father's side of the king sized bed to Shelby's side. Grabbing the pillow and throw blanket Shelby used every night, Rachel headed into her room. She rearranged the blankets on her bed to form her nest and climbed to be in the middle of the blankets, using Shelby's blanket to cover her up and the pillow to cuddle with; both had her mother's scent.

Digging in the wad of blankets, Rachel found the remotes to her TV and DVD player. The screen turned on and showed the menu of the movie she had last watched. Rachel groaned at seeing The Smurfs, Beth's current favorite movie. They had watched it the week before, when Beth had woken up with a nightmare in the middle of the night. Rachel had been the one to hear her sister cry and held her until she stopped crying. Rachel brought her into her room, got her a glass of water, and put in the movie.

She switched to regular TV and tossed the remotes to her side when she found something to watch. It wasn't long before the medicine started to do its thing and she began to get sleepy. She managed to sleep for nearly five hours, when she heard the garage door open. Since Shelby was the only one who parked in the garage, Rachel thought it was her mom coming home to get her for her doctor's appointment and she got out of bed.

On the way down the stairs, Rachel heard her father's voice and was surprised that he was home so early. She started to get excited, thinking Hiram was the one who was taking her to the doctor, as she knew she could talk him into going to Sonic afterwards to get something to eat. Shelby didn't like to feed her kids fast food too much but Hiram could easily be persuaded to go.

Before Rachel could step into the kitchen, she heard an unfamiliar voice. Her dad wasn't alone. They moved into the living room, with Hiram offering to get some drinks from the kitchen. Rachel hurried back up the stairs and hid around the corner, peering ever so slightly to watch her dad. Hiram poured two glasses of wine and returned to the living room, giving Rachel the opportunity to sneak back downstairs. She hid across the hall from Shelby's office, where she could see into the living room. The two adults in the room shared a small toast, clinked their glasses, and then to Rachel's horror, they kissed.

"I am so glad you were able to get away for lunch." Hiram smiled.

"Me too, it's just been so busy since my promotion."

"Well at least in two weeks I will have you all to myself for an entire weekend." Hiram placed his hand on top of his more-than-just-friends' knee.

"Are you sure your wife doesn't suspect anything?"

"Of course not, Shelby is too wrapped up in her job as a teacher, coaching the glee club, and taking care of the girls to even notice. She thinks I have an important meeting that I can't get out of." Hiram smirked, proud of himself that he had been able to sneak around Shelby for over six months.

Fire coursed through Rachel's eyes. The meeting her father claimed to have was the reason he couldn't be at her cheer competition in two weeks. Her dad would rather spend time with his secret lover, than with his family. Rachel was angry. Stepping into the room, Hiram nearly jumped through the ceiling, surprised to see his daughter.

"R-Rachel!? What are you doing here?" He asked, wiping his lips and setting his glass down on the glass coffee table. "Aren't you supposed to be in school or something?"

"I'm sick." Rachel folded her arms.

"Your mom didn't tell me that." Hiram walked over to his daughter, realizing he needed to introduce her to the person on the couch.

"Yeah, well there are obviously things you aren't telling mom about. Like your friend back there."

"Rachel, this is Leroy, he works at the agency with me." Hiram said.

"You're cheating on mom." Rachel stated. "With a man."

"No, no, it's not like that." Hiram tried to laugh it off, but he was failing miserably.

"Oh really?" Rachel raised a brow. Hiram thought she looked scarily like her mother. "Do you often bring co-workers over to your house when your family is out and have wine and make out?!"

"I-I"

"You've been caught." Rachel cut him off.

"Please don't tell your mom." Hiram begged. "I don't want to hurt her."

"I hate to break it to you, but mom isn't the only one you need to worry about hurting." Rachel said. "You've told me so many times that you couldn't get out of this 'business meeting' for weeks and that you were sorry that you going to miss my competition. You've been lying to me all because you'd rather be with your boyfriend."

"Honey, I'm sorry." Hiram reached out to touch Rachel's arm.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Rachel snapped. "I can't believe you."

Rachel shook her head and started to back away.

"Rachel!" Hiram called out, trying to stop her.

"No! You've ruined this family, You've ruined everything!" Rachel shouted before running up to her room and slamming the door.

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**Please let me know what you think! The next chapter should be posted next Monday, if I feel that enough people are interested in continuing reading. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate it :)**

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She got her towel and was about to go into the bathroom, when her parent's bedroom caught her attention. Rachel took a few steps into the room, staring at the bed. She remembered all the time she'd climbed in bed with her parents after having a nightmare or when it was storming out, now it just seemed like all the love in the house was a lie. Moving further into the room, Rachel stood in front of her dads' dresser. For whatever reason, Rachel pulled open the top drawer and started going through the socks. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she continued through each of the drawers. After the fourth, Rachel stopped and didn't go through the last two. There was no point. Shelby did the laundry and would have gone through the drawers when putting stuff away, Hiram wasn't stupid enough to leave evidence of his affair in a place where it would be easily found. She went over to the filing cabinet Hiram used to store some work files and pulled open the first drawer. Rachel went through each of the hanging file folders, but didn't come across anything.

The third drawer was where Rachel began finding things Hiram had hidden. Ticket stubs to concerts and movies, dinner receipts, playbills, letters, and even pictures. Rachel took the evidence and kicked the drawer shut, carrying the papers into her bedroom. She dropped them on the floor and knelt down, lifting up the mattress so she could get to the box spring. There was a part of the box spring where the fabric had been torn from when they had moved into the house a few years ago and the mattress had gotten caught on the door frame and torn. Rachel peeled back the fabric and took out a shoe box she kept hidden. Inside she had her diary, this month's pack of birth control, and condoms. Tossing the items she had recently discovered, Rachel put the shoe box back and went into the bathroom down the hall to take her shower.

Shelby closed the door to her car and walked into the house, through the garage door. She was happy to find Rachel sitting at the kitchen table, eating some soup and she was even happier to find that her house had not been destroyed. Rachel often had the tendency to not pick up after herself, leaving a huge mess for Shelby to deal with.

"Hey, sweetie." Shelby placed her bags on the chair across from Rachel and walked over to her daughter, placing a hand on her forehead. "Your fever seems to be going down. Did you take your medicine?"

"Yeah."

Shelby was slightly thrown off by Rachel's indifferent tone. "Are you feeling any better?"

Rachel only shrugged and replied. "I guess." Rachel wiped her mouth with a paper towel and got up, leaving everything where it was at. "Can we go now?"

"Sure." Shelby glanced at the half eaten bowl of soup, empty water bottle, and used napkin. She really wanted to tell Rachel to clean up her things, but she could already see that Rachel was in a bad mood. She also knew that Rachel would probably clean it up when they got home from the doctor.

An hour and a half later, Rachel and Shelby left the doctor's office. Rachel had been given orders to stay in bed and rest, while drinking lots of fluids. The doctor suggested some medicines for Rachel to take and prescribed her an antibiotic to keep her from developing a sinus infection. She was also told to stay home for a couple of days. Of course now that her perfect attendance was ruined, three or four more days wasn't going to make a difference.

Now, the pair got into the car and headed towards the elementary school to pick up Beth. Shelby pulled up along the curb and internally sighed. Next year, her little bitty Beth was going to be in sixth grade, her last year of elementary school and would then start middle school. By that time, Rachel would be a senior, ready to graduate and move off on her own. She looked over at the sick child beside her, noticing that Rachel was almost asleep. Shelby reached over and held Rachel's hand, bringing it up to her mouth, where she placed a kiss to the back of Rachel's hand.

"What?" Rachel turned her head to look at her mother.

"Nothing, I didn't mean to wake you up." Shelby quietly said. The tears in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by her sixteen year old.

"Why are you about to cry?"

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about how in two years, Beth is going to be starting middle school and you're going to be a senior. My babies are growing up." Shelby sniffled.

"Gosh, Mom, get a grip." Rachel rolled her eyes. Her mother was so dang dramatic.

Rachel leaned her head against the window once more, leaving Shelby to wipe her eyes with the sleeve of her long sleeved shirt. It took several minutes for the bell to ring and another couple seconds for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders to start pouring out of the building. Rachel stared at the door, impatiently waiting for her little sister to come out of the school. Over and over again, Rachel though her sister was walking out of the building, but each time she was disappointed. She really wanted to go home and crawl into her bed and sleep. Rachel, aggravated from having to wait nearly ten minutes, used her hand to smack the side of the door.

"Rachel!" Shelby scolded. "Do not hit the door."

"What is taking the brat so long?" Rachel growled, folding her arms like a petulant child. "I want to go home."

"Beth waits for her friend, Mallory, and I take them to Mallory's house." Shelby told Rachel, even though the girl knew how the after school routine went. Hiram didn't get home until after seven. Shelby left right after school ended to pick up Mallory and Beth, dropping them off at Mallory's house for Mallory's mom to watch them. After dropping Beth off, Shelby headed back to the high school to watch Rachel's Cheerio practice. Once that ended, Shelby had glee rehearsal at four thirty. Rachel more often than not, stayed at school with Shelby and work on her homework and then the two picked up Beth and went home. "And what have I told you about calling Beth a brat? I do not like the name calling and it hurts Beth's feelings."

"Sorry." Rachel bit. "I won't hurt your little princess' feelings."

"Rachel, what is with your attitude?" Shelby asked. It seemed there was far more wrong with Rachel than just missing a couple days of school.

"Nothing." Rachel replied.

"You sure?" Shelby pushed.

"Yes! I'm sure nothing is wrong!" Rachel snapped.

"Do not yell at me." Shelby rose her voice slightly, but her tone told Rachel she was walking a very fine line. "When we get home, I want you to go right up to your room and stay there until I say so."

"Fine." Rachel said, turning as much as she could to face her back to her mom.

Shelby gripped the steering wheel tightly, counted to ten and then unwrapped her fingers from the wheel and stretched them out. Rachel was wearing on Shelby's last nerve, but the mom was trying to remain as calm as possible. Another five minutes passed, filled with huffs and groans from the passenger seat.

"What is taking so long?" Rachel scowled.

"I don't know, I'll go find the girls, you stay here  
and text me if they show up." Shelby snatched her phone from the center console and got out of the car.

She wasn't exactly sure what was keeping Beth and Mallory and assumed the girls had gotten distracted by something, which happened on occasion. Shelby's first stop was Beth's classroom, she noticed the purple zebra stripped backpack hanging on the backpack rack in the room. Mallory's bag was already gone and this troubled Shelby. Beth's teacher, Miss Brady, was sitting at her desk and looked up when she noticed the mom had walked in.

"Mrs. Berry, hi, how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Beth, I see her backpack is still here and did Mallory come to school today? Normally she rides home with us."

"Oh." The teacher said, looking over at the backpack rack. "I thought she took her bag with her down to the nurse's office."

"Nurse's office?"

"Yes, she started feeling sick a half hour or so ago, after we got back from our field trip and I sent her down to the office. Didn't they call you?" Miss Brady continued when Shelby shook her head. "And Mallory asked me to call her mom for her and tell her she needed a ride home."

"Thank you, I will take Beth's bag and check the office for my daughter." Shelby retrieved the bag and headed towards the office.

She was slightly annoyed that she had never received a call from the office, telling her Beth wasn't feeling well. She opened the office door and went over to the nurse's office. Beth was laying on the cot, looking miserable.

What a good actress, Shelby thought. She knew Beth was faking the moment she laid eyes on her youngest child.

"Mommy? Is that you?" Beth groggily said, squinting her eyes in Shelby's direction.

"Nice try, come on, let's go." Shelby said.

"The poor girl came in not feeling well." The nurse came into the room after getting some paper towels from the stock room down the way. "I offered to call and have you come get her , butshe said she'd rather call and ask you to come in and get her after school."

"Really?" Shelby said, looking at Beth. "I must have missed that call, Beth."

"What?" The nurse said. "Beth said she spoke to you."

"No, she didn't." Shelby turned to the nurse. "I had no idea she was even in here. Her sister and I have been sitting outside in the car, waiting for Beth."

"I am so sorry, Mrs. Berry, I had no idea."

"It's not your fault, but I'd prefer to have you call me the next time Beth finds herself in here."

"Of course." The nurse nodded.

"Let's go Beth, I need to go to the pharmacy to get some medicine for your sister, you know who is actually sick." Shelby placed an arm on her perfectly shaped hip. "And I think we need to have a little talk, don't you?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Beth sighed, standing up from the cot.

Rachel was delighted when Shelby came out of the school with Beth at her side. From the hard expression on Shelby's face to the shameful look on Beth's, Rachel knew the ten year old had gotten in trouble for something and she couldn't help but snicker. Shelby motioned for Beth to get into the back seat and the girl did as she was told.

"Oooo, you are in trouble." Rachel said in a sing song voice, teasing Beth.

"Shut up." Beth replied angrily.

"You shut up, little brat, I could have already been home and in bed, sleeping." Rachel countered back.

"Don't call me a brat!" Beth shouted.

"If you didn't act like one, I wouldn't call you one."

"Mallory's cousin is right, you are an annoying troll."

Rachel's eyes instantly watered over. Mallory's cousin happened to be Quinn Fabray, one of the many people who teased and bullied Rachel on a daily basis. Annoying and troll were two of the many names the popular kids at school called her. She had thought being a cheerleader would have brought her some popularity and would have reduced the bullying, but it didn't and sometimes it seemed as if it was worse. Shelby wasn't aware of what the girl was dealing with at school and Rachel wanted to keep it that way, but having her sister call her the names that Rachel suffered through at school, made Rachel upset and she turned around in her seat, raising her hand. Just as her hand made contact with Beth's leg, the driver's side door flew open and she felt a hand connecting with her own backside.

"Rachel Barbra Berry!" Shelby bellowed, climbing all the way into the car and shutting her door. "I cannot believe you hit your sister."

"She called me an annoying troll." Rachel said, rubbing the spot her mother had swatted her.

"I don't care what she did, you do not hit." Shelby scolded.

"You don't even care that she hurt my feelings." Rachel pouted, her tears finally streaming down her face.

"That is not what I said. I will take care of Beth, but you do not get her back by hitting." Shelby replied. "I want you to apologize to Beth, right now."

"Sorry." Rachel said in the most unapologetic tone she could muster.

"Rachel." Shelby loudly sighed.

"What?" She snapped at her mother. "I said I was sorry, even though I am not. She shouldn't be able to get away with being mean to me just because she is ten. It's not fair. You let her get away with everything."

"You stop right there." Shelby held up her hand. She was all for letting her children express their thoughts and emotions, but Rachel was quickly becoming irrational. "I do not let Beth get away with anything because of her age. She is old enough to know right from wrong and that she will be punished for any and all wrong doings. I already told you that I was going to deal with Beth calling you names."

"Whatever." Rachel muttered under her breath.

Shelby let Rachel's comment go, telling Beth to put her seatbelt on so they could go home. She'd deal with her children in their own home and not in the car. For the most part, the drive was quiet and neither Rachel nor Beth said a word. They knew they were in trouble for whatever reason and knew it was best to not say a thing.

After stopping at the pharmacy to get medicine for Rachel, Shelby took the girls home. She reminded Rachel and Beth to take their shoes off at the door and place them in the closet. She fixed each one their own snack, sliced apples and peanut butter for Beth and applesauce for Rachel, and sent them up to their rooms to eat. She didn't usually let them eat in their rooms, but Rachel wasn't feeling well and it would give Beth and Rachel time alone to think before she went and talked to them about their recent actions.

Deciding to start with Rachel first, Shelby got out one of Rachel's antibiotics and the new medicine she picked up and made the girl a glass of chocolate milk before going upstairs. Rachel had finished her small bowl of applesauce and was now laying face down on her bed, her head buried beneath several pillows and her legs dangled of the edge of the bed. A warmhearted smile crossed Shelby's lips when she saw that Rachel had her pillow and blanket and was wrapped in the purple colored throw. She sat down on the bed, setting the milk on the nightstand, and began to rub Rachel's back.

"Sit up, I have some medicine for you." Shelby kindly said. Rachel did as she was told and sat up to take her medicine. Shelby felt the girl's head and frowned, feeling the fever was coming back again. "Let's have a little chat."

"I know I shouldn't have hit Beth, I will apologize to her later." Rachel said, looking up at her mother to show her she was remorseful of her actions.

"I'm happy to hear that and I don't ever want to find out that you've hit her again. Am I understood?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?" Shelby said, giving her child a look, telling her it was one of _those_ types of conversation.

"Yes, Ma'am." Rachel corrected herself.

"Good, now let's talk about your attitude problem." Shelby said, making herself more comfortable on the bed.

"There's nothing to talk about." Rachel replied.

"You've been moody all afternoon since I picked you up for the doctor's, I understand you are upset about missing school-"

"I'm not moody. I am fine." Rachel rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I beg to differ."

"Well I don't care what you have to say, I am fine, now, go away." Rachel said, moving to lie back down.

"Rachel,"

"Get out!" Rachel yelled.

"Consider yourself grounded for three days. I am taking your phone and computer away until Saturday afternoon." Shelby stood up and grabbed the phone from next to Rachel and went over to the desk and unplugged the laptop. "And you are to stay in here until I tell you otherwise."

Shelby closed the door to Rachel's room and stopped short when she heard a shoe hit the door.

"You're so mean!" Rachel complained from the other side of the door.

"Throw one more thing and I will add a day to your grounding." Shelby threatened. It only took a few seconds for the second shoe to hit the door. "Sunday it is."

Dropping Rachel's confiscated items in her closet, Shelby went into Beth's room to talk to her little darling about faking sick at school and calling Rachel names. Beth was sitting at her desk, working on some social studies homework and Shelby grabbed the extra chair from the corner of the room and sat it next to the desk. Beth stopped writing and looked up at her mother.

"I'm in trouble, huh?" Beth quietly asked.

"I am very unhappy with you right now. Lying about being sick is not okay, but what I am most upset by is that I didn't know where you were. Rachel and I waited almost twenty minutes for you to come out of the school. You're lucky your teacher was able to tell me where to find you."

"I'm sorry." Beth pouted. "I won't do it again, I promise."

"I hope you stick to that promise because I want to be able to trust you. Even lying about something small as not feeling well, makes my trust in you start to fade and I don't want that to happen." Shelby lectured. "What are you going to do if you keep telling lies and then one day you do get sick, really sick and I don't believe you?"

"I don't know." Beth shrugged her shoulders.

"Exactly, I don't want that to happen. I want to believe you when you say you don't feel good."

"I'm sorry I lied." Beth said.

"I forgive you, but you best not lie to me again, you hear me?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Good, now, you know what happens when you lie." Shelby said. She then pointed to an empty corner in Beth's room. The girl slumped her shoulders, but stood up and walked over to the spot she spent a lot of time in. "Ten minutes, young lady and then you can come out and tell me why you called your sister an annoying troll."

Ten minutes later, Beth found her mother in the kitchen, searching for something to make for dinner. She brought her plate down and scraped the last bit of peanut butter into the garbage can and put her plate in the dishwasher.

"Can I help with dinner?" Beth asked, standing next to her mother as she searched the food pantry.

"Sure." Shelby smiled down at her baby. "What should we make?"

"Homemade chicken noodle soup." Beth suggested. "It'll make Rachel feel better."

"That is a good idea and very nice of you." Shelby said, checking to make sure they had everything they'd need to make soup. "Why don't you find the big pot?"

"Okay."

Shelby knew it was kinda early to make dinner, but it was going to take almost two hours to make and it could stay warm on the stove until Hiram would come home so they could eat. Once dinner was started, Shelby and Beth moved into the living room, where Shelby handed the remote for Beth to pick something for them to watch.

"So." Shelby started out. "Tell me why you called your sister an annoying troll."

"That's what everybody calls her." Beth shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Shelby inquired. "Who told you that?"

"The big kids call Rachel a lot of mean names." Beth said. "Rachel said so in her diary and she even keeps a list of names she gets called. And the other day at Mallory's, her cousin Quinn told her friend Santana that Rachel was an annoying troll."

"What else did her diary say?" Shelby asked, though she questioned herself if she should really be asking her ten year old to recite things she's read in her sister's diary.

"She's dating this boy named Puck or something like that."

"Dating? Puck? For how long?"

"I don't know, she just started writing about him a couple months ago." Beth said, staring at the television.

Shelby sat back on the couch, she knew who this Puck kid was, he was in one of her classes. Though, ideally Puck isn't someone she wanted her daughter to date, he wasn't a horrible kid, he just made some bad choices. She started to wonder if the two had gotten into an argument or had broken up and that was the cause of Rachel's bad mood. Of course, she couldn't out right ask Rachel about them because then she'd be accused of reading Rachel's diary. For now, Shelby was going to let it be.

It was a little after seven when Rachel heard her father walk into the house. Her eyes narrowed at how chipper he sounded and she clenched her jaw as she listened to him pretend to be a loving husband and father. Deep down she knew her father loved her, her sister and her mother, but it was clear to Rachel that he didn't love them enough.

Rachel didn't move from her bed, mostly because Shelby had told her stay in her room, but also, Rachel didn't want to see her father. There were a few moments of silence, then footsteps on the stairs. Rachel sighed, it was going to be her mother, telling her it was time to eat dinner. To her surprise, following the knock on the door, she heard her father's voice.

"Rach, can I come in?"

"I guess." Rachel grumbled. She really wanted to say no.

The door open and Hiram walked in, closing the door so they could talk. "How are you feeling?"

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. She didn't even bother looking up at Hiram and instead picked at the blanket beneath her.

"Dinner is ready, are you hungry?"

Rachel only shrugged.

"After dinner, I need to make a run to the store to get some supplies for my next project; I thought maybe you could come with so we can talk. We could get some ice cream on the way home?"

"No. I don't want anything from you." Rachel said through clenched teeth. "Go away."

"Rachel, I understand that what you saw this afternoon is a shock to you and I am sure you have a lot of questions. I think we should talk about things."

"There's nothing to talk about. You're cheating on mom and you've decided your boyfriend is more important than being at my competition to support me."

"Please keep your voice down." Hiram said, checking behind him to make sure Shelby wasn't coming up the stairs.

"Why?" Rachel said, getting louder. "You really think mom will never find out? She's not as stupid as you might think."

"I do not think your mother is stupid. And I will tell her about Leroy when the time is right."

"How could you do this to us? Don't we mean anything to you?"

"Of course you do, Rach. I love you and your sister and I love your mom." Hiram said. "But I, Leroy and I, it's just complicated."

"Get out." Rachel said, dangerously low.

"Honey, I-"

"Get out!" Rachel yelled louder.

Shelby heard her daughter yell from the kitchen and needed to see what was going on upstairs between Hiram and Rachel. Beth was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for Shelby to make her a bowl of soup. Shelby ladled a few scoops of the soup into a bowl and set it in front of Beth, along with a glass of apple juice.

"Eat up, okay?" Shelby smiled at her child, placing a calm hand on Beth's shoulder.

Shelby entered Rachel's room, finding her sixteen year old sobbing on her bed and Hiram standing in the middle of the room.

"Rachel." Hiram tried to get her attention.

"I told you to get the hell out of my room." Rachel snapped.

"Rachel Barbra! You do not talk to your father that way." Shelby chastised. "You apologize right now."

"No!" Rachel looked up at her mother.

"Shelby, it's alright." Hiram tried to assure his wife.

"It most certainly isn't alright." Shelby scoffed. "Rachel, I am waiting."

"Well you're going to have to keep waiting because I am not apologizing to him." Rachel said, wiping her face. "He can go to hell for all I care."

Shelby, surprising both herself and Rachel, moved across the room and pulled Rachel over her lap so quickly that Rachel didn't realize what was happening until she felt six hard swats land on her yoga pant covered bottom. Tears filled her eyes by the eighth swat and after the tenth, she was turned up right to be sitting next to Shelby.

"You have three seconds to apologize because if you think your butt hurts now, you are sorely mistaken." Shelby glared at Rachel.

Rachel took a moment, contemplating her next move. Either she apologized to her father and acted as if nothing happened or she continues to refuse to apologize, get more swats, and possibly add to her grounding. She really, really wanted to just object to saying she was sorry and receive another round of swats, to her it would be worth it. She owed her father nothing. However, Rachel didn't want to run the risk of getting more days added on to her grounding as she had plans.

Facing her father, where Shelby couldn't see the look on her face, Rachel apologized to Hiram for yelling at him.

"You are forgiven." Hiram said and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Honey, why don't you go downstairs and get a bowl of soup? Rachel and I will be down in a second." Shelby smiled at Hiram. Hiram nodded and Shelby waited until he had left the room to face Rachel. "What on earth is the matter with you today?"

"Nothing."

"That's not an answer. You need to tell me what has put you into a bad mood because I am tired of dealing with it, Rachel."

"It's nothing." Rachel said with an exasperated voice. "I just want to be left alone."

"Well I have news for you, that is not going to happen." Shelby stood up. "You need to go into the bathroom and wash your face and hands and then come downstairs for dinner. I don't want to hear anything, but yes ma'am, am I understood."

"Yes." Rachel glared, purposefully not adding ma'am at the end.

"Rachel." Shelby warned.

"I'm going to wash up." Rachel said, moving past her mother and out into the hallway to the bathroom. She slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it.

The next day after school had ended, Puck arrived to the Berry home, wanting to check on his girlfriend. He was supposed to be at football practice, but there was no other time for him to visit Rachel when no one was around. And he had promised Rachel almost a month ago that he wouldn't skip anymore school and he had kept his promise for nearly three days now. Shelby, according to Rachel, had picked up and dropped off Beth and Mallory and returned back to school to grade some papers and work on next week's lesson plan. Hiram, as usual, wouldn't be home until much later.

It wasn't the first time Rachel had snuck Noah Puckerman into her bedroom. There were times the two didn't have practice right after school and if Beth still went to Mallory's house, Rachel talked Shelby into dropping her off at home. Puck would come over and spend time with Rachel until he had to be at glee rehearsal. And then there were the times Rachel would get her cousins to cover for her.

Shelby has two sisters, Ruby and Kristy. Shelby is the middle child with Ruby being the oldest of the three and Kristy the youngest. Ruby got married at age eighteen, much to her parent's disproval, to Philip Anderson. Three years after getting married, their daughter, Lucy was born and when Lucy was four, her baby sister, Sadie joined the family. Now at age eighteen, Lucy was about to graduate high school and attend college in Nevada. It was Lucy who had taken Rachel to the doctor a couple towns over to get the sixteen year old birth control. And both Sadie and Lucy often covered for Rachel so she could sneak off and see Puck. Most of the time, Rachel would tell her mom she was going to a game at Sadie and Lucy's school, but would go and hang out with Puck instead.

Shelby's younger sister, Kristy married a wealthy man named Al Motta. Together, they have a daughter named Sugar, who is just four months older than Rachel. Though very close in age, Sugar and Rachel do not get along very well. For the most part, Sadie and Lucy don't get along with Sugar either. It wasn't always like that. When the four girls were younger, they liked to spend time together and did nearly everything together. Around the time Sugar turned nine, she self diagnosed herself with Asperger's Syndrome, using that as an excuse to say whatever she wanted. That was the turning point in their close relationship. Lucy, Rachel, and some times Sadie, who was seven at the time, started to do things on their own without their cousin.

Rachel knew she needed to be careful about making sure Sugar didn't find out about her and Puck. Even if Sugar got a small suspicion about the relationship, Sugar would 'accidentally' say something to Shelby. So far, Sugar seemed to not know and that's what Rachel wanted.

Rachel and Puck sat in Rachel's room with Puck sitting at Rachel's headboard so he couldn't be seen through the window and Rachel sat beside the window so she could see down the road in case one of her parents came home early.

"Wait, you caught your dad with another dude?"

"Yeah." Rachel sighed. She was relieved to finally get her father's affair off her chest and talk to someone about it. "I don't know what I should do. My mom needs to know, but I don't want to be the one to break her heart. She loves my dad so much."

"You should scare your dad into coming clean. Tell him that if he doesn't tell your mom, you will."

"I don't know." Rachel said. It could work, but there was also her relationship with Hiram, Rachel needed to think about. Sure, her dad wasn't around a lot and he was tearing their family apart, but Rachel didn't want to permanently damage her relationship with her dad.

It's all so complicated, Rachel thought to herself. Being stuck in her position was hard and she didn't know what to do, especially since she had some time to cool down from the night before.

"I guess for now, I'm just gonna act as if nothing happened. I never saw my dad and Leroy." Rachel said.

"Eventually he will slip up and your mom will find out." Puck said.

"Yeah."

"When do you think you'll be able to come back to school?"

"I don't know, the doctor said I have to spend a couple days at home. It's only Wednesday, so maybe I will get to go back on Monday."

"I don't know how I am going to survive school without you." Puck said, leaning forward to kiss Rachel's warm forehead.

"I'm sure going to class and homework will keep you pretty busy, on top of glee and football." Rachel smirked.

"Or, I could come over here during lunch and my class after lunch."

"No." Rachel narrowed her eyes.

"But you need someone to take care of you." Puck said, reaching for Rachel. He grabbed her by her arms and pulled her to lie beside him.

Puck covered the two of them up and snuggled against Rachel. The girl kissed her boyfriend's cheek and then shook her head at him. "No. You're going to all your classes."

"Babe." Puck all but whined.

"Noah, you promised." Rachel pouted. "Don't you want to get into a good college with me?"

"You don't even know what you want to do after high school."

"That's not the point, the point is I want to attend the best college, with my boyfriend."

"Alright, I will stick to my word and I won't skip anymore classes."

"Thanks." Rachel kissed Puck's cheek again. She pulled back, giving Puck the biggest set of puppy dog eyes and pouty lips. "Will you hold me for awhile before you have to leave?"

"Sure." Puck and Rachel settled into the bed, Rachel's back was pushed against Puck's front.

It wasn't long before Rachel's breathing slowed down and Puck leaned across the girl, seeing that she was asleep. He carefully pulled his arm from under Rachel's head and slid off the bed. Rachel shifted a little, feeling the loss of Puck's body and body heat, and she whimpered slightly. Noah leaned down and kissed Rachel's temple and rubbed her back.

"Shh, it's okay. Go back to sleep." He whispered.

"Stay?" She mumbled.

"Your mom will kill me if I miss practice."

"Awe." Rachel whined.

"I love you, Rach." Noah said for the first time.

A large smile spread across Rachel's sleepy face. "I love you too, Noah."

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**A/N: Please let me know if you liked this chapter and the story as a whole so far, I promise it only takes a second. It really makes my day :)**

**Next chapter will be posted either Sunday night or Monday, just depends. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all for the reviews, I really enjoy reading them!**

**So I thought I would go ahead and answer a few questions and whatnot since there were some mixed feelings about the last chapter.**

**1. Shelby is in NO WAY an abusive parent. She spanks her children as a last resort. Shelby tries to talk to her daughters to get them to change their behavior and when they don't, she grounds and/or spanks them. And this won't be the last time I write Shelby spanking Rachel or Beth, I am sorry if you don't like it or think Shelby is being abusive, but that is certainly not true.**

**2. I understand that some kids would tell their parent about their other parent cheating, however, I don't believe that goes for all children. Rachel is upset and confused and doesn't want to hurt her mother. And I chose for Rachel to not tell Shelby right away or if at all because it is my story and I want it to be longer than two or three chapters.**

** 3. On the show, Rachel isn't meek, but again, this is my story and Rachel is this way for a reason.**

**4. Shelby's sisters and Rachel's cousins will all be a part of the story and will make their appearances fairly soon.**

**5. Next chapter, there will be more of backstory of Puck and Rachel. I think. LOL. Oh, and yes, I am giving Puck a little sister.**

**6. Rachel's anger is called for, but Shelby does not know that. Hiram does, obviously, but he also doesn't want Shelby to know about his affair. So, for now, he'll kinda be an ass and act as if Rachel is being rude for no reason. Shelby doesn't question her attitude towards Hiram, because Rachel has spoken to her like that as well.**

**7. As far as the 'Yes Ma'am' 'No, Ma'am' thing...I live in the south. It is very common to hear this as it is a sign of respect and courtesy for others. Shelby does not force her children to address her like that EVERY time they talk to her. **

**I hope I answered any and all questions and comments. If there's anything you'd like cleared up or whatever, please leave me a review and I will address it at the beginning of the next chapter. Or you can also send me a PM. :)**

**Anyway, thank you so much for each and every review, I appreciate the feedback. **

**Y'all are great and I hope you like this next chapter!**

* * *

The week went on, but Rachel's attitude wasn't improving, even with three more days added to her punishment. Wednesday finally came around and Rachel was let off her grounding during breakfast. Shelby decided it was okay for Rachel to return to school that day as well and hoped that would curb the girl's behavior. But it was apparent Wednesday after school that Rachel was still in her bad mood.

Shelby sat at the director's table, watching as New Directions went over one of the three routines they had in place for their regionals competition in May, which was nearly two months away. Rachel sat with her almost every day after her cheerleading practice, working on her homework or helping her mother spot any mistakes the group was making. Today was no different, except there was no time for Rachel to help her mom, she had a lot of homework to make up.

"That was horrible!" Shelby hollered into the microphone. "I have never seen such sloppy work, hell, the children at the day care center across the street could have done a better job than you, and they just learned how to walk last week! Take five minutes, drink a Red Bull, and when you come back, we are going to go over this routine until you can't feel your legs. Now, go."

Rachel peered at her mother. She knew first hand at how tough Shelby could be, but when Shelby coached, she reached a whole new level of wickedness. It made her glad that Shelby wasn't like that at home and didn't berate her or Beth. Rachel was pretty sure if any of the glee clubbers knew the Shelby Rachel did at home, they wouldn't believe it.

Shelby turned off the microphone and pushed it away, glancing over at Rachel to see what she was working on now.

"What do you want?" Rachel asked, becoming annoyed with her mom just staring over her shoulder.

"I was only seeing what you were working on." Shelby replied. "It didn't require your disrespect."

"Well, I don't need you to check on me." Rachel snapped.

"Rachel, you just got off your week long grounding, do you really want to be put back on it?"

"You can't ground me again, I have plans tonight! And my competition is this weekend." Rachel's eyes widened.

"Then I suggest you get your attitude in check. It's been a week and I am tired of it."

"And I am tired of you being so annoying." Rachel bit back.

"Perhaps you need to stay home tonight, your cousins will have to go by themselves to the movies."

"What? No!" Rachel said in a whining voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I'm just, I don't know, worried that I am going to fall behind. I missed almost a week of school from being sick, that's a lot of homework to make up on top of the things we got assigned today."

"You'll get caught up, Rach." Shelby said, rubbing her daughter's back. "You have until next Wednesday to get it all turned in, I am sure you can get a lot of it done during the weekend."

"I hope." Rachel sighed. She smiled to herself for pulling one over her mother.

Shelby ended glee rehearsals fifteen minutes early after making the thirteen students practice the routine to the point, one of the boys, nearly passed out. She didn't want to get anymore calls from parents, complaining about their children being over worked, so she decided to send everyone home. Rachel waited for Shelby to finish closing up the auditorium and they were finally ready to go pick up Beth.

"I will be right back." Shelby undid her seatbelt and got out of the car.

They were at Mallory's house and Shelby was going to quickly run in to get Beth. A short time later, Beth came running out of the house and climbed into the back seat.

"Hi, Rachie, did you have a good day?" Beth asked, leaning between the front seats to talk to her sister.

"Yeah, it was pretty good." Rachel smiled at her little sister. She reached out and fixed the large pink bow that sat in the girl's hair.

A lot of Rachel's worries about her father's affair coming to light, were about how Beth was going to handle things. She was a huge daddy's girl. Rachel also had a good relationship with Hiram, but she had more in common with Shelby and often found herself drawn to spending more time with Shelby, even if her mother was a pain in the ass sometimes.

"Beth!" A voice called out, getting both Beth and Rachel's attention. Mallory run up to the car and opened the back door. She scrambled into the backseat and over to Beth, leaning really close to the girl. She began to whisper something in Beth's ear. "You forgot Rachel's diary."

Rachel thought she heard her name coming from the backseat and turned around, just in time to see her diary be passed from Mallory to Beth, who tried to tuck it into her backpack, but Rachel was quicker and grabbed it.

"What are you doing with my diary?" Rachel angrily asked, unbuckling her seat belt to face Beth. "I told you to stay out of my room!"

"I'm sorry." Beth's eyes filled with tears. Her sister had never been this mad at her.

"Why did you take it?" Rachel asked, her head starting to hurt.

"Q-Quinn paid me twenty dollars." Beth whispered. "She just wanted to look at it."

Rachel's eyes widened so far that she was sure they were going to pop out of her head. "You gave it to Quinn Fabray!?"

Beth nodded.

Rachel, in a fury of anger, reached out, slapping Beth in the face. It wasn't hard enough where it was going to bruise but Beth certainly was going to be sporting a red hand print for a couple hours. Beth began to sob, while holding her face. Rachel instantly knew she was dead when Shelby found out and she was still too furious with Beth to apologize. Doing the only thing she could think of, Rachel clutched her diary to her body, grabbed her phone from her purse and got out of the car.

Glad she was feeling much better than she did last week, Rachel started running. She didn't know exactly where she was going to go, but she definitely didn't want to go home. She came to the familiar park and without a second thought; she crossed through the set of swings and up the hill. She was starting to get tired, but she kept going. At the top of the hill was the train tracks that divided Lima. Rachel felt her phone vibrate rapidly in her pocket, she knew without looking that her mom was trying to call her. Slowing down to a walking pace, Rachel walked the railroad tracks and pulled her phone from her pocket. Sure enough, she had a miss call from Shelby.

Hot tears slid down Rachel's face as she returned her phone to her pocket. She could only imagine how bad school was going to be tomorrow, now that her enemy knew practically every single detail of her life. And worse, her mom worked at the school, giving it only a matter of time before Shelby learned some secrets her child was hiding. Of course once her mother got a hold of her, Rachel might not have to worry about going to school the next morning as she was going to be dead.

Following the train tracks for a few minutes, Rachel carefully worked her way down the hill that led her into a small residential neighborhood. Puck's mom should have already left for work and after checking the driveway to make sure Nora Puckerman's car was gone, Rachel went around the back of the house and knocked on the door to the basement.

"Rach? What are you doing here?" Puck asked, opening the door for his girlfriend to walk in.

"My mom is going to kill me." Rachel said, out of breath. She walked into Puck's room and sat down on the large bed.

"She found out about us?" Puck questioned, slightly worried. "She doesn't know we've had sex, does she?"

"No, no." Rachel shook her head. "She doesn't know about us or that we've been having sex. At least not yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Quinn paid Beth twenty dollars to get my diary so she could read it. Everyone is going to find out what I had written in there, including the parts about us dating and all that." Rachel placed her head in her hands. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Maybe it won't be as bad as you think." Puck offered some comfort. "Maybe Quinn won't say anything."

Rachel scoffed, glaring at puck. But that didn't last long as Puck leaned forward and placed a kiss on Rachel's lips.

"Noah, I can't, I'm upset." Rachel pouted.

"So let me make you un-upset." Puck smirked, kissing her lips once more, and then her cheek, and then the spot right behind her ear.

"I-I…oh, that feels good." Rachel said, turning into putty as Puck found the spot that melted Rachel every time. She enjoyed the bliss for a moment, until she pulled away. "My mom."

"She won't know you're here."

Rachel's phone went off for the third time, but instead of checking her phone, Rachel started to undo the button and zipper, kicking her jeans off. If she was going to hide from her mom for a couple hours, she was going to make it worth it.

It wasn't until ten, four hours after taking off from the car, that Rachel decided it would be best to go home and face the music. Puck, refusing to let Rachel walk home so late at night, drove Rachel home, parking in front of the Berry house. He didn't stay long, Rachel wanted to get things over with inside, but before he left, he and Rachel engaged in a quick makeout session. Rachel was sure it was going to be years until she'd be allowed to leave the house.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Puck kissed Rachel one last time.

"You hope." Rachel grumbled, getting out of Puck's truck.

"I love you, Rach."

"Love you too." Rachel smiled.

Rachel took a deep breath, her hand hovering over the door knob to the front door. She finally mustered up the courage to open the door, stepping inside the house. Most of the lights were off, except the kitchen light. The upstairs hallway light was on as well, telling Rachel that Beth had already gone off to bed. She thought she might be lucky and Hiram and Shelby went to bed too, but she knew that was wishful thinking.

Hiram came out of the living room and grabbed Rachel by her arm, pulling her close. "Where the hell have you been?"

"With my boyfriend." Rachel stated. "What about you? Have you seen your boyfriend lately?"

Rachel raised her brow ever so slightly, smirking at the surprised look Hiram wore.

"Your mother has been worried sick!" Hiram growled. "She's been crying for hours, praying that nothing bad happened to you."

"Please." Rachel rolled her eyes. "She's probably been busy cuddling the little princess up there, making sure she doesn't bruise or something."

Rachel moved around Hiram to into the kitchen to get something to eat. Hiram didn't let her get far as he grabbed her arm once again, stopping her from moving any further. "Don't you walk away from me. What you saw last week doesn't mean you can just stop listening me to me and treating me like I am not your father."

"I don't care." Rachel tried to shake Hiram's hand off her arm.

"You better start."

"Why are you even here?" Rachel asked, yanking her arm away. "You don't want to be with mom anymore and it's clear Leroy is more important than us. So just leave."

Before Hiram could reply, Shelby's footsteps were heard running down the stairs. "Hiram! Hiram! Is that Rachel?"

"Yes, she's home." Hiram answered as Shelby reached the landing.

"Oh my God, Rachel." Shelby grabbed a hold of Rachel. The girl thought Shelby was going to spank her right then, but Shelby wrapped her arms around her daughter, hugging her as tightly as she could without hurting Rachel. "I have been so worried about you. Where have you been?"

"I'm sorry, I just, I was scared and, and you were going to be so mad." Rachel said, forcing a few tears to fall. She was going to use her mother's concerned and frightened emotions to her advantage. "I didn't know what to do."

"Beth told me everything." Shelby said, still hugging Rachel.

"Quinn is going to tell everyone." Rachel sniffled. "She's gonna tell everybody everything that's in my diary."

"It's going to be okay, Rach." Shelby said. Finally with gentle force, pushed Rachel off of her and wiped away the tear streaks on the teenager's face. "Why don't you go take a nice hot bath and when you are done, I will come upstairs and we will talk."

"Mommy, am I in trouble?" Rachel asked.

"Rach, you slapped your sister in the face and then took off for four hours. No one knew where you were and you weren't answering your phone. There has to be a punishment for that."

"What about Beth?"

"Beth got her own punishment and went to bed early." Shelby said. "And tomorrow at Mallory's house, she isn't allowed to play; instead she will be spending her time writing you a letter of apology."

"Will you start my bath water?" Rachel asked with a slightly childish voice. "Please?"

"Sure, Baby."

Shelby walked Rachel upstairs and into the bathroom that was only used by the girls. Rachel sat down on the closed toilet lid, watching her mother turn on the hot water, adjusting it with some cold. Rachel passed a bottle of lavender scented baby wash that she liked to add to her water to Shelby and the mom squirted plenty into the stream of water. The bubbles started forming and Shelby left the room momentarily to get a towel. When she came in, Rachel was already in the tub and had turned off the water.

"Thank you, mommy." Rachel gave a sad smile.

"You're welcome. Let me know when you are done with your bath."

"Okay."

Shelby closed the door to the bathroom and went to check on Beth. The door was slightly ajar, letting enough of the hallway light in for Beth to see if she woke up in the middle of the night so she didn't get scared. From the doorway, she could see the dried tear streaks on Beth's face. Leaving the room, Shelby went into Rachel's room and picked up the small pack of Boogie Wipes that was sitting on Rachel's nightstand. Shelby had bought the wet wipes for snotty noses when Rachel wasn't feeling well, instead of regular Kleenex, which made Rachel's nose red and sore. Taking a wet wipe into Beth's room, she gently wiped away the dried tears. Beth shifted in her sleep, her eyes opening for just a few seconds.

"Shhh, it's okay, go back to sleep." Shelby whispered, rubbing Beth's stomach.

Beth being on her back didn't last long as her bottom was sore from the spanking she received earlier in the evening. She whimpered a bit and turned to her side and then on to her stomach. Shelby continued to rub Beth's back until she was sure the girl was back asleep.

Hiram was sitting at the kitchen table, doing some work when Shelby came down, running her hand over his shoulder as she passed by to get to the fridge. She assumed Rachel hadn't eaten anything and was probably hungry, besides Rachel needed to eat something so she could take her antibiotic. She only had three more pills to take and it was important that she consumed all ten days worth of the medicine to keep her from getting an infection.

"What are we going to do about Rachel?" Hiram asked his wife of twenty years.

"Well, I think a spanking and two days confined to her room will do." Shelby said, heating up a can of tomato soup.

"That's it?" Hiram questioned. "She should be banned from her competition this weekend."

"I am not going to keep her from something she's worked so hard at and besides, her team is counting on her being there. You don't understand how much that messes up the team's dynamic when one person is missing. I get it, I deal with it at least once a week with the glee club. And besides, we've spent four hundred dollars on this trip, I am not going to let it go to waste."

"So a few swats and two days in her room is it?"

"Yes, the spanking is for slapping Beth and being grounded to her room is for taking off." Shelby said, knowing it was a fair punishment.

"And what about the weeklong attitude she has had? Especially towards me."

"She's just a little stressed out right now with missing a week's worth of school and having to make up all the assignments and if you were around more, you'd know that she gets a little edgy just before her cheer competitions." Shelby said. "And on top of all of that, her sister gave her diary to a girl who apparently makes fun of Rachel a lot."

"Here we go." Hiram sighed, highly annoyed. "You know I would be around more if I could, but work keeps me super busy."

"And that excuse was okay when we were first married, but we have kids now. You never stop and take a break from your job to enjoy your daughters." Shelby moved back to the fridge and got the things needed to make a grilled cheese.

"I really don't want to have this argument again."

"Then listen to what I am saying." Shelby huffed, slamming the tub of butter on the counter.

"Look, I can't take a break until after I come back from the meeting in Chicago. After I come back, maybe we can spend a weekend at the beach house in Malibu or we can take that trip to Canada that you've been talking about for years."

"It would mean a lot to Rachel if you were at her competition."

"I can't miss it."

"Then have someone else go in your place."

"It's not that easy."

"Well." Shelby said, getting Rachel's food prepared in a bowl and on a plate. "I wouldn't expect her to be nice to you anytime soon."

"And you're going to let her be disrespectful to me?"

"No, I will still reprimand her when she does, but that isn't going to keep her from being hurt that her father can't take one day off of work to support and cheer her on."

Hiram and Shelby fell into silence, something that often happened between the two. It seemed that bickering had become a new normal to the pair and much like Rachel's attitude; it was wearing thin on Shelby.

"Mom?" Rachel called down the stairs several minutes later.

Shelby moved away from the stove and stood at the bottom of the stairs. "Shh, honey, you'll wake up your sister."

"Sorry, I just wanted to tell you I am done with my bath." Rachel said, standing in only a towel.

"Alright, I will be up in a minute with your dinner." Shelby said. "I made you tomato soup and a grilled cheese."

"Thanks, I'm starving." Rachel smiled.

Shelby gave Rachel some time to get dressed before she went upstairs. She had Rachel sit at her desk while she ate in case she spilled on her blankets or pillows. Shelby sat on the bed and let Rachel eat and take her medicine. Rachel had brought her diary from the bathroom and left it in the middle of her bed. Shelby picked up the hard covered, floral printed notebook and held it in her hands. She really wanted to open it and read what was written, but long ago, when she had first discovered Rachel had a journal, she made a promise to herself that she wouldn't invade her child's privacy. But now that there was possibly a boy in Rachel's life, Shelby so badly wanted to know what was going on between the two of them. Rachel finished her dinner, swallowed her pill and turned to her mother.

"Don't worry, I am not going to read it and I am not going to force you into telling me what's in it." Shelby said, handing the book to Rachel. "But if there is something you want to tell me, I will listen and I won't judge."

"It doesn't really matter, you'll find out everything at school tomorrow." Rachel sighed, tossing her book on the desk.

"I don't think Quinn is going to be a problem." Shelby said. Rachel gave her a questioning look and Shelby continued. "After I found Beth in the car, crying, she told me what she did for Quinn and Mallory's mom gave me the Fabray's address. I dropped Beth off with your dad and went to speak to Quinn and her mom. Judy Fabray was quite upset with her daughter and assured me that whatever Quinn read, would not be told to anyone."

"She can't promise that." Rachel pointed out. "For all we know, Quinn has already told Santana and Santana has a huge mouth."

"According to Quinn, she hasn't told anyone and taking in consideration that her mother threatened to remove her from both glee and cheerleading if she said anything, I think there is nothing to worry about." Shelby said, making Rachel feel a little better. "I also spoke to them about Quinn bullying you at school."

"What? How did you know that? Did you read my diary?" Rachel asked nervously.

"No, I promise I have never, ever read your diary." Shelby held her hands up. "Beth did and the other day she told me some things that were in it."

"Like what?" Rachel quietly asked.

"Only that some girls were teasing you at school and that you keep a list of names they call you."

"Oh."

"And, she mentioned that you've been seeing Noah Puckerman." Rachel looked at her mother, but her eyes shot down to the floor, she couldn't look her mother in the eyes. "Quinn has been warned about teasing you and if she or any of them bully you anymore, you need to tell me or principal Figgins."

"Okay."

"I mean it Rachel, you need to let us know if you are being bullied." Shelby stressed the importance of it all. "I wish you would have told me about the names and pictures that were being drawn of you."

"You know about the pictures?" Rachel looked up.

"I've seen them in the girls' bathroom at school, but I didn't know they were of you until Quinn mentioned it this evening. She will be spending her mornings, cleaning the pictures off the bathroom walls."

Rachel felt a sense of relief that perhaps she wouldn't have to worry about Quinn Fabray anymore, but she was still hesitant to believe that everything was going to be fixed at school.

"I really am sorry for taking off, Mom." Rachel finally said with meaning. After having time to herself in the bath and realizing that Shelby was truly worried out of her mind while she was gone, Rachel started feeling bad. "And for hitting Beth." Rachel figured she should probably add that in for good measure, even though she thought her sister deserved it.

"Thank you for apologizing and I am sure Beth will appreciate it too when she gets your letter."

"I have to write a letter? Aw, come on mom." Rachel whined. "I don't want to write a stupid letter."

"Tough, it's part of your punishment, along with the spanking you'll receive before you go to bed and the two days you'll be spending in your room."

"A spanking? No! Please don't." Rachel begged.

"Rach, it's either this or the grounding your father thinks you deserve to be kept home from the competition this weekend."

"What? No!"

"Then you're getting spanked."

"Fine." Rachel's shoulders fell. "Let's get it over with."

Rachel got up from her desk chair and sat next to Shelby, but the mom didn't make any move to get Rachel over her knee.

"There's something else I need to ask you." Shelby said, turning to face Rachel a little better."Are you dating Noah Puckerman?"

"I, um." Rachel bit her lip.

"Honey, I have always made it very clear to you and your sister that I am someone you can talk to about anything. If dating Noah is something you are interested in, I'd like to know so we can have the appropriate talks and make sure you are safe."

"We have been talking a lot lately and he has asked me to go out on dates with him, but I wasn't sure how to ask you so, we've been spending lunch and study hall together." Rachel didn't want to tell her mom that she had gotten her cousins to lie and cover for her. She was already in trouble with the Beth thing and had only been off her weeklong grounding for only a few hours.

"I am so happy that you haven't been sneaking behind our backs and seeing Noah and I am glad that you've been honest with me about seeing him." Shelby patted Rachel's knee. Feeling like her mom was being very understanding and compassionate at the moment, Rachel decided to go ahead and tell her she spent the four hours at Puck's house. For a moment after telling Shelby, Rachel wondered if she should have kept that piece of information to herself, but after several painstaking seconds, Shelby cleared her throat. "Okay…I am going to ask you something and I want the honest answer, got it?"

Rachel nodded at Shelby's slow and cryptic tone. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Did you and Noah have..did you two…"

"What? Mom, no." Rachel scrunched her nose. She felt horrible for lying, but she did not want to see the look of disappointment in Shelby's eyes. She didn't know if she could handle it. In her eyes, what Shelby didn't know, wouldn't hurt her. "Noah and I, we aren't ready for any of that."

"Okay, good." Shelby sighed. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. You are far too young to have sex. You're not ready for it at all."

"Yeah." Rachel said, trying not to give herself away.

Rachel tried hard to stifle the yawn that was brewing, but Shelby caught on that Rachel was getting tired and looking at the clock, Shelby figured out why. It was after eleven and normally Rachel was already in bed and a sleep. Though she hated having to spank her children, Shelby knew she needed to follow up on her punishment to Rachel.

"I want you to understand that the spanking I am going to give you is for slapping your sister. It is not okay that you keep hitting her and I understand I am swatting you, but you also know there is a difference. Am I correct?" Shelby asked and Rachel nodded. "The two days you'll spend in your room on restriction is for taking off for four hours without answering your phone or at least telling me you were okay."

"Are you taking anything away?" Rachel asked.

"Your phone, iPod, and computer will be taken away, unless you need the computer for school, which then I will be monitoring you. Your TV is off limits too, but I will allow an hour of television time after dinner, if you've been well behaved."

"Okay." Rachel said.

"Now, let's get this over with so you can go to bed." Shelby placed a hand on Rachel's lower back and another on Rachel's shoulder. She started to lay the girl over her lap and was stopped by Rachel.

"And you'll hold me when you're done?" Rachel sheepishly asked.

"Don't I always?" Shelby kissed Rachel's head and got Rachel over her lap.

Since Shelby had already told Rachel what she was getting spanked for and believed Rachel knew what she did was wrong, she delivered the first set of ten swats without a lecture. Rachel laid over Shelby's lap and didn't fight the spanking at first. Once she felt Shelby tugging down the back of her sweats, Rachel began kicking her legs. Shelby held on to Rachel's waist a bit tighter as Rachel fidgeted through the next fifteen swats, but Rachel knew it was still only warm up swats, once her panties came down, she knew she was in for it.

"Not bare, please!" Rachel pleaded, reaching a hand back when she felt Shelby touching her underwear.

"Move your hand or you're going to make it worse." Shelby said just below a warning tone.

"Please don't." Rachel begged.

She let out a small shriek when she felt Shelby land an all-powerful smack to her backside, catching the tips of Rachel's fingers in the process. Instantly, Rachel moved her hand away and let Shelby pulls her panties down without any further resistance. The last seven swats Shelby delivered were the worst and the tears that had threatened to fall, poured down Rachel's face. When she was done, Shelby kept Rachel over her knee and rubbed her back and bottom, letting the girl rest for a moment. She didn't even shutter when Rachel wiped her snotty nose on the leg of her jeans. Shelby put Rachel's pants back in place and moved her to lie on the bed. She tucked Rachel in and then sat on top of the blankets, leaning her back against the headboard. Rachel instantly moved her head from her pillow to Shelby's stomach and smiled through her teary eyes as Shelby switched from playing with her hair to rubbing her back.

It took almost forty-five minutes, but Rachel finally fell asleep and like she did with Beth, Shelby used a Boogie Wipe to clean up Rachel's face and nose. She slipped out of Rachel's bed carefully as even though Rachel was fast asleep, the girl had a super tight hold on her mom. She got to her feet and reached out to set Rachel's alarm and was startled when Rachel tapped her mom's leg.

"Sleep with me?" The girl asked in a sleepy haze.

"Okay, I need to put on my pajamas first." Shelby whispered. "Go back to sleep and I will be right back."

Rachel nodded and laid her head back on the bed, wiggling closer to the wall to make room for Shelby to sleep in. Shelby set Rachel's alarm and walked out of the room, turning out the light. Like Beth, Rachel didn't like to sleep in the dark, but she also didn't like to sleep with her door open. A nightlight kicked on next to Rachel's bed and the tired girl lay in bed, waiting for her mom to return. Jetting out her lower lip, she stumbled out of bed and went across the hall to her parents' room. Shelby was lying in her bed, reading a book and waiting for Hiram to get out of the bathroom.

"Mama." Rachel whined while rubbing her sleep filled eyes. "I thoughts you were coming to sleeps with me?"

"I am, I just wanted to read a bit before I came in and lay down."

"But I want you now." Rachel dropped her arms to her side and leaned her head back to whine in the most dramatic fashion she could muster.

"Okay, okay, let's go." Shelby got out of bed.

She poked her head into the bathroom and told Hiram Rachel wanted her to lie with her. Grabbing her pillow and blanket, Shelby followed Rachel into her bedroom. She switched Rachel's pillow and blanket with hers; knowing Rachel would somehow manage to steal Shelby's things in the middle of the night. Rachel climbed in bed, wrapping herself in her mother's blanket, contently. Shelby got in after Rachel and used the teen's blanket to cover herself up with.

"Night, mommy." Rachel yawned, pushing herself as close to Shelby as she could.

"Night, sweetheart."

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**A/N: What did y'all think? **

**I should have the next chapter up next Monday and an update for Be My Baby might be ready too.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I know, I know, I missed two updates! I'm sorry, but things got in the way and I wasn't feeling well for a few days. I also know I said I'd be introduce Rachel's cousins and have quite a bit of Puck/Rachel, I didn't realize this was my longer chapter and I didn't want to make it too long by adding more. I promise the cousins will come along soon as well as some Puck/Rachel drama and fluff. **

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Rachel walked into William McKinley High School with a new and improved outlook on her life, well, as far as school went. It had been three weeks since Quinn had read Rachel's diary and it seemed as though Shelby and Judy Fabray's talk with Quinn had done some good. Though Quinn took little digs at Rachel's choice in clothing, the name calling and pornographic pictures have come to a head and Rachel began to find school tolerable again. And in even better news, there were no rumors or stories swirling around having to do with her diary.

Shelby was only a few feet behind her and Rachel waited until her mother was distracted by one of her students needing help on a homework assignment before she hurried off to meet Puck at his locker. Though Shelby was aware of the two dating and even invited Puck over the week before for dinner, Rachel knew Shelby wouldn't like seeing her making out with her boyfriend.

Puck was waiting for Rachel at his locker and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they headed to the cafeteria so he could get something to eat. Rachel had asked her mom to start giving her money for breakfast at school, but Shelby refused too, knowing the lunchroom didn't serve the best of meals. Besides, making her children breakfast was one of the highlights of her day, eating with them before their crazy day, was always something Shelby looked forward too. They walked through the line and found a place to sit in the corner of the lunch room, where there was hardly anyone around.

"Did you ask your mom about Saturday?"

"I can't go, my dad is leaving for New York tomorrow and won't be back until Tuesday and since his birthday is Sunday, mom planned this trip for her, Beth, and me to go to New York and surprise him." Rachel frowned. "I might be able to get out of it and stay with my aunt while they are gone."

"Do you think you're ever going to tell your mom about his affair?"

"I don't know, I think she should know what's going on, but I also don't want to be the one who ruins her life. Eventually, he will slip up and the truth will come out." Rachel said. "But I am sure she will let me go to the movies with you before we go. What about tomorrow night?"

"That sounds great, I will see what times the movie starts and text you about it tonight."

"Good." Rachel smiled, giving Puck a quick peck on his lips.

The bell rang, giving the students ten minutes to get to their first period classes. Rachel grabbed her bag and waited for Puck to throw away his garbage and set his tray aside. He then took a hold of Rachel's hand to walk her to her class. They climbed the stairs, getting them to the main floor of the high school and quickly walked across the school to the stairwell. As they came around the corner, Shelby was coming out of the teacher's lounge with a hot cup of disgusting, tar like coffee.

"Whoa, sorry guys." Shelby chuckled after almost running into her daughter and her boyfriend.

"Uh, hi, Mom." Rachel said, dropping her hand from Puck's hold.

"You two are going to your classes, right?" Shelby questioned, even though she had no reason not to trust them. Since dating her daughter, Shelby had noticed that Noah was actually going to his classes and was even turning in his assignments in her class.

"Yes, mom." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Alright then, you better get a move on." Shelby motioned with a tilt of her head for them to continue on. "I will see you in class, Noah. And Rachel, don't forget to stop by my office before lunch so I can give you some money."

Rachel and Puck nodded and Shelby sent them on their way. Halfway up the stairs, Rachel's phone went off in her pocket, turning it to silent; Rachel checked her message from Shelby.

_-You two are a lovely couple and I trust your judgment. You don't need to keep distance around me so long as your tongues aren't down each other's throats. Lol._

Rachel smiled at the message and refrained from rolling her eyes. She tucked her phone into her pocket and continued her walk to her math class. Her day was pleasant and Rachel found herself to be in a good mood, it had been a while since she felt that way, but she was happy about it. Mostly, Rachel assumed it was because her dad was leaving the next day and would be gone for five days. She felt uneasy about being so happy that her dad was going to be gone but truth of the matter was, Hiram wasn't around much anyway. He was gone before Rachel got up for school and didn't get home until seven and even then, he'd eat and then would spend the rest of the night working on his computer. Anytime Rachel would try to talk to him, Hiram sent her to her mother. And over the last seven months, his attention for Beth had steadily decreased. For a long time the only person who could get Hiram to stop working for a few minutes was the ten year old.

The only downside to Rachel's day was that she only got a few minutes in the morning, one class, and lunch with Puck. She wanted to spend more time with him, but it was hard, especially after school. During her cheer practice, Noah had football practice, and then after that he had glee with Shelby while Rachel did her homework. Rachel thought about this the entire way to Mallory's house to get Beth and again on the way home.

As they walked into the house, through the garage, Rachel dropped her stuff at the door and ran upstairs to her room. "I need some time alone, okay; I'll be down later to do my chores."

"What's her deal?" Beth asked, sitting at the kitchen table, not wanting to miss out on her after school snack. Today it was a bologna and cheese sandwich.

"I don't know, but eat up so you can take the trash down to the road, tomorrow is trash day."

Shelby cleaned up the breakfast dishes and when Beth was done eating; she went outside with the girl to keep an eye out while Beth dragged the trash and recycling bins to the curb. When they came back inside, Shelby ordered Beth to wash her hands and then let the girl do whatever she wanted until dinner time. An hour passed by since they had gotten home and Shelby decided to check on Rachel. The teenager didn't seem upset or like anything was bothering her, but Shelby wanted to make sure. She went upstairs and knocked on Rachel's door, twice.

"Come in." Rachel said.

Shelby walked in, finding the girl lying on her stomach, writing in a notebook. "Do you still need to be alone?" Shelby motioned to the book. She wasn't sure if it was Rachel's diary or not, but wanted to the give her space if she needed it.

"No, I was just doing some thinking." Rachel shrugged as she sat up.

"Care to share?"

"Mmm, not yet." Rachel said, looking down at her notebook. "I kinda need to do this on my own."

"Alright." Shelby replied. "So I forgot to take out the hamburger meat last night, I was thinking we could order something in and it's your turn to pick."

"Can we go out?" Rachel questioned.

"Sure, if that's what you want."

"I know it sounds stupid and childish, I mean I am sixteen now, but Beth and I really like their pizza and the games."

Shelby laughed, she knew exactly where Rachel wanted to go, her and Beth had been bugging Shelby for months about going to Chuck E Cheese.

"Let me call your father and see if he wants to meet us there or go in one car."

"Okay." Rachel said, it was the only thing she could say without showing any signs of displeasure that her dad would be there. She jumped off her bed, hollering Beth's name. The girl came out of the living room, wondering what all the excitement was about. "Guess where we are going for dinner!?"

"Where?" Beth's eyes glazed over with wonder.

"Chuck E Cheese!"

The sisters were ecstatic about going and raced upstairs to get ready. Shelby stood in the hallway, cell phone in hand, glancing between the two rooms her children occupied. It was hard to tell who was the most excited. Hiram told Shelby he would meet them at the restaurant that way he had a car so he could leave if it started getting late.

Hiram Berry sat in his office, staring at the family picture that sat on his desk. He hadn't accomplished a single thing in the last hour and a half, including deciding on what choice was he going to make. Would he stay with his wife and daughters or would he leave all of that behind and run off with his boyfriend?

He thought about his life with Shelby, his high school sweetheart. The two had dated during the last two years of high school and on the night of their graduation, Hiram popped the question. Shelby, the most planned out person Hiram had ever met, didn't even hesitate to say yes and six months later, they were married. Things were rocky at first for the newlywed college kids, but their love for one another kept them together. Hiram graduated with a degree in marketing and advertising. It took several months for him to find a job and when he did, things for the husband and wife got easier. Except two months after getting his job, Shelby, only four years into college, announced she was pregnant. Seven months later, Rachel Barbra Berry was born on her due date. Hiram, not wanting Shelby to get off track in her schooling, started working from home when Rachel was six weeks old so Shelby could go back to school. By the time Rachel was two, Shelby had her teaching degree and worked at Carmel high school in Akron, Ohio, where the family was living at the time. Three years later, Shelby and Hiram's house was growing by two feet. Yes, there was going to be another child. Five year old, Rachel, prayed and prayed for a little sister and even used her birthday wish, asking for a baby sister. Prayers and birthday magic worked as on June 10th, 2000, Elizabeth Marie Berry was welcomed into the world. Hiram and Shelby had it all, wonderful jobs, a nice house, two beautiful girls, and a perfect relationship.

Hiram and Shelby couldn't exactly pin point where things started going downhill. But just a year after Beth's birth, Hiram was laid off from his job and the family had to move into a smaller house, only able to find a decent one in Lima. Shelby took another job in Lima working at the high school. After the move from Akron, things were never the same between the couple. Hiram started working more often and was away on business trips a couple times a month. Though the money was nice and the family was able to buy a bigger house in Akron a couple of years ago, there wasn't enough money in the world Hiram could give Shelby to make her truly happy.

Now as Shelby sat in the booth at Chuck E Cheese, she wondered where all the happiness had gone in her marriage. It seemed that the only time she felt happy was being away from her husband, alone with her daughters.

She watched as Beth and Rachel got their drinks from the soda fountain, smiling as she saw Rachel help her little sister reach the lever so she could fill her cup. It was hard to understand why Hiram chose to miss out on being with his children, why didn't he spend more time with them. If he didn't want to be around her, fine, but he never made the move to try and do something with just him and the girls.

Her attention was taken off the girls when Hiram walked in and slid into the bench across from Shelby.

"Hi, honey." He said, no kiss, no hug, only a half hearted smile and that was it.

"Hi." Shelby returned the greeting without much effort.

"Where are the girls?"

"Getting drinks. We were waiting on you to order pizza." Shelby replied.

"I guess I will fill my cup and let them know I am here so we can order food." Hiram reached for one of the empty cups on the table, never offering to get Shelby something. She couldn't remember a time in the early years of their marriage where he didn't fill her cup for her when they went out.

Oh well, Shelby thought to herself.

Hiram walked over to the soda and salad bar area and waved to his two princesses. "Hi, girls."

"Hi dad." Rachel said, hardly giving the man any if her attention.

Hiram could see he wouldn't be getting any sort of response from Rachel and decided not to ask anything about her day. There was no point; Rachel acted as if he didn't exist half the time. Instead, he moved on to Beth, a daddy's girl.

"Hey my sweet angel." Hiram placed a hand on Beth's head. "Geeze, you're growing like a weed, you weren't this tall two days ago."

"Hi dad." Beth said and walked around the man to go sit down.

Hiram was taken aback by Beth's cold shoulder. What happened to the little girl who would run into his arms ever night, begging for a piggy back ride into the kitchen?

He turned to Rachel, who was putting a lid on her cup.

"What have you said to your sister?" He demanded to know.

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked with an irritated tone to her voice.

"Beth hardly said two words to me, that's not like her. What have you done?"

"Instead of asking me what I've done, why don't you look in the mirror?" Rachel walked away, following Beth back to Shelby.

But as taken back as Hiram was, that was nothing compared to how shocked Shelby was. How did she miss all this when she was at home? How did she miss the fact that Beth didn't get excited when Hiram walked in, not just tonight, but several nights over the last few months. It hasn't slipped past Shelby that Rachel seemed to be hostile towards her dad lately, but then again, Rachel was hostile at everyone for awhile. Where her children even happy anymore?

"I want a salad with my pizza." Rachel said, sitting at the table next to her mom.

"Me too." Beth said, climbing over Rachel and Shelby to sit on the inside of the booth.

"Sweetie, don't you want to sit by daddy?" Shelby asked, helping the girl sit down without spilling her drink all over Shelby.

"No, I wanna sit with you, mommy."

"Okay. Rach? What about you?"

"I'm perfectly fine where I am at." Rachel replied, staring off at the games, deciding which one she wanted to play first. "Can I get some tokens?"

"After we order our pizza." Shelby said.

"I want pepperoni." Beth gave her order.

"Okay, what do you want Rachel?" Shelby questioned.

"Mom." Rachel turned and gave her mother a pointed look.

"Cheese only." Shelby said. She didn't know why she even bothered asking. Rachel only ate two kinds of pizza. Cheese and extra cheese.

Hiram returned to the table, placing his drink down. "Are we ready to order?"

"One wants pepperoni and the other wants cheese." Shelby said.

"Why don't we order one big pepperoni and Beth can pick it off since she doesn't like it?"

"I like pepperoni, dad." Beth corrected him in a 'duh' like tone. Rachel giggled at the way Beth glared at Hiram.

"Right, of course, I mean Rachel." Hiram shook his head.

"And I am not going to pick the pepperoni off." Rachel added.

"It'll be the same if you pick it off." Hiram said.

"No, it will not be the same."

"Hiram, we're going to have to order two pizzas, Rachel will not touch any slice that has or had pepperoni on it."

"She can deal with it."

"I promise I can't." Rachel exclaimed.

"Hush." Shelby said to Rachel, placing a hand on her hip.

"Well I can't." Rachel whispered.

"It's not really that big of a deal, we shouldn't have to cater to her every whim." Hiram told Shelby as they walked up to order their dinner.

"Oh really, then remind me who it was that went down the road to get Beth chicken nuggets from McDonalds every night for a week straight because she wouldn't eat anything I cooked?" Shelby said. Ugh, she was so glad Beth got over that phase. "As I recall, I was the one who suggested that we make her sit at the table until she ate her dinner, but you didn't want to upset your littlest princess and went though the drive thru instead."

"Beth was only three at the time. Rachel is sixteen."

"It doesn't matter how old they are. Beth was being a pain in the butt, refusing to eat even her favorite meals. Rachel, has not ever liked pepperoni on her pizza and I am not about to make her pick it off. She can still taste it in the cheese." Shelby stood at the counter, taking her wallet out of her purse. "Do you want a salad, the girls and I are getting one."

"Do they really need salads?" Hiram questioned.

Shelby dropped her wallet on the counter in a huff and whipped around to face Hiram. "Must you question everything?"

"No, I just think pizza will be enough for them."

"And it probably will, but there's going to be pizza leftover anyway and the girls will eat it over the next couple of days." Shelby turned around.

She ordered their food and the pair returned to their seat. Rachel and Beth were a few feet away, looking at the games, but Rachel also kept a close eye on the table. The next time Rachel glanced her way, Shelby flagged her down. She handed Rachel a few tokens, telling her to split them with her sister.

"Thanks, Mom!" Rachel grinned, running off to give half the tokens to her little sister.

"Does it bother you?" Shelby asked, watching Beth play a jump rope game that used only a light and a sensor mat. It crossed Shelby's mind that she wanted to try out the game later on.

"Does what bother me?" Hiram asked, texting on his phone.

Shelby paused for a second. She wished she hadn't asked the question, she didn't want to ruin her kids' night with an argument.

"Nothing, never mind." Shelby sighed. "I think I am going to play some games with the girls."

Shelby stood up, grabbing the cup of tokens. Rachel and Beth dragged their mother around the game section, begging her to play their favorite games. Shelby was out of breath and ready to sit down and was happy to the pizza had arrived to their table.

"Awe, one more game, please, mommy?" Beth pleaded

"Alright, one more game." Shelby gave in and handed Beth two tokens to put in the machine. "Rach, you go and eat, we will be right there."

"I'll wait." Rachel replied.

"No, you need to go sit down and eat. You can get your salad too; the bowls are at the table."

The family, however broken they may be, sat together, like they did nearly every night. Only this time, Hiram tried to engage a conversation that was more than just about his work or whatever trip he was taking next.

"Now that your team has won regionals, what are you going to do next?" Hiram asked Rachel.

Rachel didn't really want to have any sort of talk with Hiram, but she didn't want to upset her mother after all, tonight had been a fairly decent night without her parents getting into a screaming match.

"Nationals. We're going to nationals in May." Rachel answered. "I think they are going to be held in Colorado this year."

"When you find out the date, let me know so I can get some time off of work." Hiram said. "I'd really like to see you compete."

"Really?" Rachel questioned. She didn't know what to think, but nodded anyway. "I will."

"Good." Hiram smiled at his oldest daughter and then looked to Beth. "And you'll have a birthday coming up after Rachel's competition."

"Yeah." Beth said, picking at her salad with her fork.

Later on that night, after Rachel and Beth were in their rooms and supposed to be asleep, Shelby and Hiram were in the midst of their almost daily fight. Rachel laid her bed, listening to Hiram yell at her mom. It was apparently her fault that the girls didn't want to be around their dad and her fault that he had to work so much. Her constant nit picking and need to have everything be perfect, drove Hiram to spend more time at the office and forced him to spend all his time at home, working on his computer. Shelby called him out on his shitty excuses; they both knew it had nothing to do with Shelby and everything to do with Hiram, except Shelby didn't know about Leroy.

Upstairs, shortly after Hiram had referred to Shelby as a bitch, Rachel's bedroom door flew open and Beth ran right into her sister's bed. Rachel was wide awake and let her sister into her bed, making her lay between her and the wall. Beth snuggled in as close to Rachel as she could get and Rachel wrapped an arm around Beth.

"They're fighting again." Beth whispered. "Dad called mom a bi-"

"I heard." Rachel cut Beth off. "It's gonna be okay though, they'll stop soon. Try and go to sleep. Do you want to watch your movie?"

"No." Beth shook her head. She pulled a folded piece of paper from her pajama sleeves and started to play with it for a moment before passing it to her sister. "Here, you should take this back."

"What is it?" Rachel asked, unwrapping her arm around Beth to take the letter.

"It's one of the letters Leroy wrote to dad, I found it in your box when I got your diary."

"So you know?" Rachel asked.

Beth nodded.

"Rachel?"

"Yeah, Beth?" Rachel answered, staring at the letter in her hand.

"Does daddy not love us anymore?"

Rachel didn't know what the answer was, did her father even love them? But she didn't want to worry Beth anymore than the ten year old was.

"He does and he loves Mommy too, it's just, sometimes adults don't stay married and they get a divorce and live apart."

"Are they going to get a divorce?"

"I'm not sure, but Beth." Rachel sat up and helped her sister sit up too so they could be face to face. "You can't tell mom about the letter or Leroy. Promise me it will be our secret, at least for now."

Beth tilted her head. She wasn't sure why she couldn't tell her mom, but Rachel looked very serious and so she nodded. "Okay, I promise."

"Good, now let's go to bed."

Shelby told Hiram how she felt about his behavior at dinner, regarding almost forcing Rachel to eat something she hated. Hate was a kind word though, sometimes even the smell of pepperoni alone, made Rachel gag. And Shelby had never been the type of parent to make her children eat something she knew they didn't like. And after she had expressed her feelings to Hiram, the man told Shelby he was tired of Shelby being a bitch to him. Seconds later, Shelby thought she heard some footsteps and a door either opening or closing upstairs. The fight ended fifteen minutes later, with Shelby telling Hiram he could sleep alone that night. She retreated upstairs, going to check on the girls, but to also get her pillow and blanket. She was going to sleep on the pull-out couch that they used whenever they have guests staying over.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Shelby walked down the hallway and could see that Beth had indeed gotten up and went into Rachel's room as both the girls' bedroom doors were wide open. Shelby tip toed over to Rachel's room and peered her head inside. Beth had her head lying on Rachel's stomach, while Rachel ran her fingers through Beth's hair. Shelby often found herself in the same position as Rachel, Beth's head on her belly and playing with the girl's hair, after Beth had a bad dream at night or following a spanking. She knew Beth had heard the arguing downstairs and was upset and found comfort in her sister's bed.

Rachel and Beth turned their attention to the doorway as Shelby's figure had disturbed the stream of light from the hallway that gently lit up Rachel's room. Shelby walked the rest of the way into the bedroom and sat down. Beth began to cry, she was troubled by the shouting and seeing Shelby's red eyes from her own tears.

"Oh baby" Shelby held her arms out and Beth leaped across Rachel into her mother's arms. "It's okay, it was just a little fight. Don't cry, Beth."

Shelby rocked Beth back and forth, comforting her. She looked over Beth's head to see Rachel and saw that the sixteen year old was crying her own silent tears. Adjusting Beth to sit on the other side of her, Shelby took a hold of Rachel's arm, tugging her to rest against her free side. Wiggling herself and the girls to be lying down, Shelby covered them all up and kissed both their heads. Singing, the only thing Shelby could think of, worked in getting the girls to calm down enough to fall asleep.

The next morning, Shelby woke up twenty minutes before Rachel's alarm was due to go off. Both Rachel and Beth had been attached to Shelby all night, hardly letting Shelby even move an inch. And even now, Shelby was unable to move, but she needed to get up and take a shower or else there was a strong possibility they'd be late. She took Rachel's arm by the wrist, taking it from its spot across her chest and tucked it against Rachel's body. The teen shuffled in her sleep, turning to face the wall. That was a great help to Shelby as now she only had to worry about detaching herself from Beth. After she got out from Beth's clutch, the ten year old began to whimper and in her sleep, searched for her mother. Luckily, Rachel was nearly the same height and build as Shelby and Beth assumed Rachel was Shelby and scooted closer to her sister.

In the shower, Shelby turned the water to hot and let the stress and worries of last night drip off of her. She was willing to do anything to make things work between her and Hiram, even if that meant counseling for the two of them. Hiram had already packed his suitcase and left for work and would be leaving for New York at noon and tomorrow Shelby and the girls would be heading to New York in the morning and the husband and wife could talk things out then. But in this moment all Shelby knew was that she needed to make her marriage work for not only her children, but for herself.

It wasn't but a few minutes into her shower when Shelby heard the door open and a cold gust of air found its way into the hot, steaming shower, sending a chill up Shelby's spine. Peeling back the shower curtain, Shelby saw Beth and Rachel, both with sleepy eyes and messy hair. She put on a smile, though she wasn't exactly in a good mood, hoping the girls would believe that everything was alright. She got two small smiles back as the girls got comfortable on the bathroom floor, leaning their backs against the cabinets below the sink, the same spots Shelby often found the girls during her showers.

"Mom, I don't want to go to school today." Rachel yawned. "Can we stay home, just for today?"

Shelby would love to take a day off of work and spend it with her daughters. And in the back of her mind, she knew she was going to be asked this, except she figured by Beth. She quickly rinsed her hair, ridding her long brown locks free of the conditioner. Reaching her arm out to Rachel, the girl handed her mother a towel and Shelby stepped out of the shower, wrapped in the plush material.

"Rach, as much as I would love to say yes, we all have to go to school today. You're already going to miss tomorrow when we leave to surprise your father."

"What? We are still going? After what happened last night?" Rachel said, shaking the sleep from her body.

"Honey, what happened between dad and I is not for you to worry about. It was a fight and we both said some things that we regret."

"He called you a bitch." Rachel said, swearing for the first time, in front of her mother at least.

"You know better than to use that language." Shelby warned. "And I am sure daddy regrets saying that, we were both angry and I am not about to let our angry words ruin our vacation this weekend. It's your first time in New York City and I know you are super excited about seeing your first Broadway show."

"Yeah." Rachel smiled. She was pretty excited.

"So, Rachel, go in and take your shower and Beth, go get dressed so when Rach is out of the shower, you can brush your hair and we can eat breakfast."

It was another successful day of school for Rachel and she couldn't wait for her dinner and movie date with Puck that evening. First, she had to deal with Sue Sylvester at cheer practice. Shelby left right after school to get Beth and drop her off at Mallory's house and would be back in time to watch her practice. Rachel and the rest of the Cheerios were given five uniforms in order for them to be able to wear them every day to school and on Friday's after practice, they were given to Coach Sylvester for her to take them to the dry cleaners. And Monday morning, the girls changed back into their clean uniform before the start of school.

Today, Rachel had stashed a pair of yoga pants, a sports bra, and a tank top in her cheer duffel bag, along with four of her uniforms. She made sure the Cheerio locker room was cleared before slipping inside to change. Walking out of the locker room, Rachel was no longer wearing her uniform and was in the outfit she had packed. The uniform was stuffed into her duffel bag, including her tennis shoes she had been given when she joined the squad. Carrying her duffel bag out into the football/track field and over to the edge of grass where the cheerleaders could practice without getting the way of the football players. Everyone was lined up and stretching, while Sue gave out her usual commentary.

"Berry, what the hell do you think you are doing? You're late and where is your uniform?" Sue bellowed through her megaphone.

Past Sue, Rachel saw Shelby sitting in the stands. The older woman got up and walked down the bleachers, coming to a stop beside Sue. She folded her arms, waiting for Rachel's explanation.

"I've been thinking and have come to the conclusion that I don't want to do cheerleading anymore." Rachel told her coach, but she was also speaking to her mom. "When I first started high school, I thought I was going to join glee, but I was drawn to the cheer squad. Now, I think my talents would be better suited with the New Directions. I want to sing and dance and be a part of something special. So here are my uniforms, tennis shoes, and some other items."

"You're really jumping ship and going to that pathetic club?" Sue scoffed.

Rachel glanced at her mother, whose grin was a mile wide, then looked back at Sue. "Yup."

"Get out of my sight." Sue gritted.

"Gladly."

Rachel left the field, waiting for Shelby at the end of the gate. Shelby swept Rachel into a hug.

"Are you sure you want to quit cheerleading to join my pathetic club?" Shelby asked, pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head.

"I'm completely sure." Rachel nodded. "Plus, it gives Noah and I more time together."

"Is that why you quit cheer? To see Noah more?" Shelby asked.

"It's part of the reason, but I am also tired of dealing with Coach Sylvester. She always lets Quinn, Santana, and Brittany do the better stunts and be at the top of the pyramid. Everything they can do, I can do just as well and nail them perfectly every single time. At least in glee club, my opinion will be heard and I will get to be the center of attention. Imagine all the solos I could have!"

"Now remember, you have to work for the solos, but I think you'll love glee."

"Me too." Rachel grinned. "I'm gonna go watch Noah practice."

Shelby let Rachel go, deciding to take this time to make sure everything was in order for her substitute teacher tomorrow. After Puck was finished with football practice, Rachel ran out onto the field, kissing Puck square on the lips.

"Hey, what are you doing? What happened with you and Coach Sylvester?" Noah asked, wrapping his arms around Rachel, giving her a kiss of his own.

"Nothing, I quit." Rachel shrugged. "But I joined New Directions, so we could see each other more."

"Really?" Puck raised a brow. "You quit cheer for me?"

"No, I quit for us. Besides, my mom has always wanted me to be in her glee club, even if she's never said anything, I know she was disappointed when I came home last year and said I wanted to be a cheerleader. She tried to hide it, but I knew she wasn't happy."

"There is one thing I am going to miss since you're not going to be in that uniform anymore."

"Oh, yeah?" Rachel bit her lip in a sultry way. "What's that?"

"I won't be seeing your perfect legs and ass as much." Puck pouted.

"Awe, my poor baby." Rachel returned the pout. "But I am sure we can still have our alone time in the locker room before glee."

Puck bent his head and started to kiss Rachel, running his hands from her ribs, down to the swell of her hips. He moved his hands around to her backside, but Rachel ended the kiss and took his hands off her butt.

"There's still time before glee." Puck made a suggestion. "And I won't be seeing you for a couple days after tonight."

"I'll wait for the signal." Rachel winked, walking off and into the gym.

Like Rachel and Puck had done many times over the last few months, Rachel slipped into the gym and into the locker room, separate from the Cheerio's locker room. At the back of the lockers was a door that led out to the school's pool. She took off her shoes and socks, carrying them over to the boy's locker room door. She waited until Puck opened the door and then hurried inside and over to the only private shower at the end of the row of public showers.

"Here." Puck handed Rachel his towel so she could lay it on the built in, tiled bench.

"We've got to hurry, glee starts in fifteen minutes and my mom is going to know something is up if it takes us too long to get to the auditorium." Rachel panted as she tried to get undressed with Puck's help.

Rachel and Puck hurried into the auditorium. Shelby had not yet arrived and Rachel was relieved. The dropped their backpacks off in one of the chairs and hurried on stage where everyone else was standing. Quinn and Santana glared at Rachel as she passed by, they were livid about Rachel leaving the squad. Though, it wasn't so much that Rachel left, they didn't like the troll anyway, Sue had taken Rachel's leaving out on them at practice by making them run extra laps and pushing them harder than ever.

"Say something." Puck dared the two girls as he walked past, following Rachel to an open spot to warm up.

"You didn't have to do that." Rachel softly whispered a she started to stretch. "I can handle them."

"You shouldn't have to worry about handling them in the first place, they are stuck up bitches, who need to be knocked down a peg or two."

"They're rich, spoiled brats." Rachel said, watching the two girls. "And being popular only adds to their egos, making them think they can do whatever they want."

"So, what are you thinking?" Puck asked.

"What do you mean?" Rachel's attention turned to her boyfriend.

"How can we get them?" Puck asked. "You know, put something in their shampoo to turn their hair different colors, or itching powder in their underwear."

"Noah! We can't do that." Rachel hissed. "Besides, they haven't done anything to me to deserve it."

"They won't know who messed with them."

"No." Rachel sternly said as if she was talking to a young child.

Shelby arrived to the auditorium, five minutes late. She had been in the teacher's lounge making copies when the machine stopped working. It took her a half hour to get the thing running again and she had to run up to her office to drop of the copied papers and pick up her purse and work bag. She was impressed that her students were warming up on their own without needing Shelby to tell them. She saw Rachel standing beside Puck, laughing and talking as they did their stretching.

"Alright, everyone, finish up so we can get started for the day." She gave the kids another couple of minutes while she got her things situated. When she was done, Shelby directed the kids to get in position to start their routine for Amy Whinehouse's, Rehab. "Before we begin, I'd like to announce that we have a new member, making us a grand total of fourteen, and now we have an even number of boys and girls. I am going to have to make a few arrangements as far as partnering goes in our final routine, but for now, Rachel I want you over here by Tina and watch her. Tina, please help Rachel out with any questions she has. Everybody ready? Alright let's hit it."

Rachel did her best to keep up with Tina and the rest of New Directions, and while she found herself getting frustrated, Tina was nice and would stop to help Rachel get back on track. Towards the end of their third run through, Rachel turned the wrong way, knocking herself back and she grabbed a hold of Tina to steady herself, only it caused the pair to fall to the ground.

Tina and Rachel, after making sure neither one of them were hurt, busted out laughing.

"Sorry about that." Rachel stood up, reaching a hand down to Tina to help her up. "I keep messing that part up."

"Don't worry, it took me a long time to get it too. I really made your mom mad." Tina said, nearly ashamed of herself.

"Yeah, I remember that." Rachel chuckled lightly.

"Can we get back to rehearsing already?" Quinn placed a hand on her hips.

After the girls had fallen, Shelby paused the music, giving Rachel and Tina a few seconds to shake off their tumble.

"Quinn." Shelby flashed Quinn one of her more tough looks. She turned her attention to the two girls at the back of the stage. "Are you both okay?"

"I think so." Rachel nodded.

"Tina?"

"My wrist stings a bit, but I will be okay." Tina said, looking down at her left hand.

Shelby tried not to show her worry, but an injury, even a slight sprain or jam, could mean losing one of her team members for the next several weeks and they couldn't afford that risk. The best thing to do at the moment was to take a quick break.

"Alright, um, everyone, I want you to take a break and get some water. Tina, I'd like to check out your wrist."

Shelby sat Tina down in one of the chairs and knelt down in front of her, taking her wrist in her hand. Rachel was one of the first to grab a bottle of water from the cooler Shelby kept stocked backstage and hurried to see if Tina was going to be okay.

"Are you okay? Is it serious mom?" Rachel flooded the two with questions. "I am so sorry Tina; here I got you a bottle of water."

"Thanks." Tina said, taking the bottle from Rachel. "And it's okay, my wrist is starting to feel better."

"I think you landed funny, but you should be alright. Before you leave today, I am going to need you to fill out an accident report and take a copy home for your parents to sign."

"Yes, Mrs. Berry."

"Good, now drink some water so we can get back to rehearsing."

By the time glee had ended, Rachel was starting to get the hang of things and Tina was feeling much better. The stage and auditorium cleared out fairly quickly, except for Shelby, Puck, Rachel and Tina. Rachel said her goodbyes to Puck, knowing she'd be seeing him in just over an hour and sat on the edge of the stage, waiting for Shelby to finish packing up. Tina shouldered her bags and walked up to Rachel with a piece of paper in her hands.

"You know, you're not like the other girls who are on the Cheerio squad." Tina said.

"Thanks." Rachel took as a compliment. She hoped.

"You don't act like you're better than everyone else and you're nice. Plus, Mrs. Berry wasn't as mean as she usually is, maybe she'll be more like this now that you're on our team."

"I can't make any promises regarding my mother." Rachel laughed.

"Rach, are you ready?" Shelby asked, going up to the girls.

"I'm coming."

"Okay, I'll wait in the car." Shelby said, walking out of the auditorium, making sure to lock it so no one could come in, but Rachel and Tina could get out.

"I should probably go." Rachel hopped off the stage.

"I'll walk out with you." Tina said, walking beside Rachel as they headed towards Shelby's SUV. She handed Rachel the piece of paper that held her phone number and address. "I thought maybe we could hang out sometime."

"I'd love too." Rachel's face glowed with delight. Most of the time when Rachel went out and did anything or went over to someone's house, it was with her cousins or Beth. "I'll be out of town until Sunday evening, but I'll text you this weekend and we can figure out a day to hang out."

"Prom is next month and I want to go dress shopping soon, if you are going, maybe we could go dress shopping together."

"I don't know if Noah is interested in going, but I'll find out. Even if he doesn't want to go, I'll probably go with my cousin, Sugar. My aunt will insist upon it."

"Sugar Motta is your cousin?" Tina raised a brow.

"Yeah, our moms are sisters. We don't get along very well, but we spend a lot of time together with our other cousins, Sadie and Lucy, they're ninth and twelfth graders at the Catholic school across town."

"Does she…well…what's her deal exactly?"

"Sugar is….for lack of better words, her own person." Rachel tried not to laugh. "Her personality is what keeps me from being able to tolerate her for more than five minutes at a time."

"Family functions must be fun." Tina joked along with Rachel.

"I guess you could say that." Rachel laughed some more.

"Anyway, I should let you go." Tina said.

"Yeah and I will text you some time later tonight, that okay?"

"Sounds good."

Rachel got into the car, unaware of the way Shelby was staring at her. After she buckled her seatbelt, she finally looked over at her mother to ask why they were still parked.

"What?" Rachel asked, giving her mom a weird look.

"Nothing, just wondering what Tina wanted." Shelby started to drive.

Rachel didn't know how to contain her emotions at the moment. Tina was the first person to ever want to be her friend. Throughout her life, Rachel had many kids she socialized with at school, but that's as far as it ever went. She didn't get invited to many birthday parties, often only going because her two older cousins, Sugar and Lucy, were invited. It didn't really bother her to not have any one to socialize with outside of school besides her cousins, at least she thought it didn't. Sitting there with Tina's cell phone number in her hand, Rachel realized just how much it hurt to not have any good friends besides her family members. She didn't know why people didn't want to be her friend. She knew she was a little different from the rest of the girls at her school, wearing animal embellished sweaters, pleated and plaid skirts, knee socks, and maryjanes. Santana often asked Rachel how she managed to dress as a toddler and old lady at the same time.

"She wants to go prom dress shopping with me." Rachel said. "And I am suppose to text her. How long should I wait? An hour? A day or two?"

"As far as texting her, I would wait until tomorrow, after she is done with school. You're going to be out with Noah tonight and you shouldn't be spending the entire time on your phone." Shelby said. "And are you and Noah thinking about going to the prom?"

"He hasn't asked or said anything."

"No." Rachel sullenly replied.

"Well, there is still time and it wouldn't hurt for you to drop some hints." Shelby quickly looked over at Rachel, winking at her child.

Shelby waited in the kitchen for Rachel to come downstairs so she could do her hair before Rachel's date. Since it was only going to be her and Beth for most of the night, Shelby let Beth pick what they had for dinner and when Beth settled on ice cream sundaes, she figured it wouldn't hurt as it was only one night. And to keep Beth out of her sister's hair while she was trying to get ready, Shelby put her on movie detail, sending her into the living room to get out whatever movies she wanted to watch and to gather their blankets and pillows.

Rachel came down the stairs wearing a simple pair of jeans and a nice flowing top. When Shelby turned around, she instantly recognized the clothes her daughter had on.

"What do you think?" Rachel asked.

"I think somebody went into my closet." Shelby raised a brow. The jeans belonged to Rachel, but the black heels and top, belonged to Shelby. The woman had yet to wear the newly purchased shirt.

"I told you I liked this shirt." Rachel smoothed down the fabric. "And I figured you wouldn't mind if I borrowed it."

Famous last words of Rachel Barbra Berry. Whenever Rachel used the word 'borrow,' there was a 99% chance you were never going to get the item back. Like the brush Rachel borrowed from Shelby, its new home was in Rachel's bathroom and Shelby had to go out and purchase a new one because Rachel loved the squishy, gel handle. And again when Shelby let Rachel wear a pair of her Uggs a couple of winters ago, they now sat in the bottom of Rachel's closet. It didn't matter if Shelby went and regained custody of the items as they'd return to Rachel's care just as quickly.

Shelby had Rachel sit down in the chair closest to an outlet so she could use the curling iron.

"There's some rules I want to put in place before you go." Shelby said, brushing out Rachel's hair. "First, you wear your seatbelt at all times while you are in Noah's truck."

"I know, mom." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Stop." Shelby swatted Rachel's arm without force to get her child's attention. "You need to listen to these rules to be able to go out tonight."

"Okay, okay." Rachel sighed.

"If he starts texting or messing with his phone while he is driving, you need to tell him not too. I don't care if it causes a fight; it is totally and completely unsafe." Shelby continued. "You go only to dinner and the movie theater, nowhere else and no stops in between."

"Okay."

"And remember, you are not ready for sex." Shelby emphasized this last remark.

"I know, Mom." Rachel said. If only her mother knew.

Shelby finished Rachel's hair just in time as Puck knocked on the door to pick up Rachel. Shelby helped Rachel make sure she looked perfect so the girl could answer the door. After several agonizing minutes of Shelby taking their picture, Rachel announced that they needed to leave be able to eat and catch the movie on time.

"Oh! I forgot something!" Rachel gasped and hurried upstairs. She was due to start her period within the next couple of days and she had forgotten to put a tampon in her clutch just in case.

When Rachel was out of ear shot, Shelby took this as an opportunity to talk to her daughter's boyfriend.

"Look, you are a great kid and I know you care a lot about Rachel, but I need you to remember that she is only sixteen. Neither of you are ready for the consequences that can come from having sex."

"Mrs. Berry, I promise, Rachel and I are not having sex and won't for a very long time."

"I am trusting you, Noah." Shelby said. Puck nodded, hoping their conversation would be turned to a less uncomfortable topic. "There's one more thing."

Shelby reached for her purse that was sitting on the counter top and took some money out of her wallet, handing it to the seventeen year old boy.

"What's this for?"

"We will be returning from New York Sunday evening. You are going to call Rachel the moment our plane lands at 5:55pm and ask if you can come see her. And when you show up, I expect you to have flowers or something sweet, whatever you can get with thirty bucks and you are going to ask her to go to prom with you. And I don't care if I have to pay for everything, your tux, dinner, tickets, a limo, you are taking my daughter to the prom."

"I'd love to take Rachel."

"But?"

"But my mom works at both her jobs on Saturdays and Sundays, there will be no one to watch my sister."

"Emily is what, seven?" Shelby tried to remember.

"She just turned eight." Puck corrected.

"I am sure Beth and Emily would get along great."

"I couldn't ask you to watch her, I don't know if my mom would be able to pay you."

"You do not have to pay me!" Shelby declared. "I'll get your mother's number from you on Sunday to make sure she is alright with Emily staying with us for a couple of hours."

"Great, thanks Mrs. Berry."

Rachel came down the stairs and was finally ready to go. "Let's go. Bye, Mom!"

"Bye and remember your curfew!" Shelby called after her.

"Midnight, I know."

"Rachel." Shelby folded her arms.

"Fine, ten thirty." Rachel sighed and closed the door to the house.

Shelby locked the door behind the teenagers and went to check on Beth in the living room. She found the ten year old, sitting on the floor in front of the TV, going through the doors of the entertainment center, looking for movies she wanted to watch.

"Can we have hamburgers too?" Beth asked.

"I'm sure we have hamburger meat." Shelby said. "I'll go make us some burgers, keep yourself out of trouble."

"I will." Beth rolled her eyes.

Just like her sister, Shelby thought.

The ten year old was tired of going through the movies. She stood up and went upstairs to change into her pajamas and to get her and her mom's blankets for later. Going over to her dresser, Beth opened the second to the top drawer and picked out a pair of sleep shorts with SpongeBob printed all over and a white tank top.

"Oh, hey." Beth squealed.

She forgot all about the balloons she had found in Rachel's room and had put in her dresser. To Beth, Rachel was too old to play with the balloons and Beth was intrigued by the strawberry scented one and the banana flavored one. She wasn't sure why anyone would flavor a balloon, but people were always inventing strange things.

Blowing up the scented, flavored, and glow in the dark balloons, Beth shoved the extras back into her drawer and went downstairs to show her mom. Shelby had found some leftover ground hamburger meat in the fridge from a few days ago and was currently mixing in some spices to make them a quick dinner.

"Mom, look!" Beth said, attempting to juggle the three balloons.

"Hold on, Sweetie, I am trying to mix this up." Shelby said, without turning around to look at her daughter.

"But they are so cool." Beth said, smacking one with her hand. It flew across the room and hit Shelby in the side of the face.

"What is that smell?" Shelby asked.

"My balloon, it smells like strawberries."

"That's….interesting. Where did you get it?"

"Rachel's room."

"Did you ask Rachel first?"

"Yup." Beth said. No way was she going to tell Shelby she stole them from her sister's room.

"That was nice of her."

"Yeah and this one tastes like banana." Beth hit a second balloon to Shelby.

"It what?" The mom asked, looking towards Beth, only to be hit square in the face by a balloon.

The odd shaped balloon fell to the ground and to Shelby's horror she realized her ten year old daughter was playing with condoms she got from her sixteen year old's room. Scrambling to pick up the blown up condom, Shelby snatched the other two away from Beth, popping them with a knife and throwing them away.

"Hey! What did you that for?" Beth cried out. "Those were mine."

"Beth, those weren't for playing with." Shelby said.

"But I have three more!"

"Show me." Shelby demanded.

Beth dragged her feet to the stairs and took her mom to her room so she could see. Shelby stood behind Beth as she took the condoms out of her pajama drawer. As she held the condoms in her hand, Shelby realized she had just let Rachel go out alone with Puck, unsupervised. Turning to Beth, Shelby shoved the condoms in her sweater pocket.

"Beth, get dressed we are going out for a bit."

"What about my hamburger? And my ice cream?" Beth asked.

"I'll take you to get a burger and we will have ice cream later."

Shelby hurried Beth out of the house. It took several minutes to get across town to the diner, Puck and Rachel were suppose to be at. Across the street was a fast food restaurant and Shelby was glad they served hamburgers. They ordered and took a seat next to the window, where Shelby could see Puck and Rachel. As far as she could tell, they had been at the diner for quite some time.

"What are you looking at?" Beth asked, craning her neck to see out the window. She looked around and noticed her sister was across the street. "Look, there's Rachel!"

"Really, where?" Shelby asked, pretending to play dumb.

"There." Beth pointed. "Ew, she's kissing him!"

Shelby watched as Rachel and Puck began a make out session while they waited for their food. Turning her head, Shelby told Beth not to stare.

"Why don't you go get a couple cups of ketchup? Our food should be ready shortly."

Shelby tried not to focus too much on the teenagers and gave Beth most of her attention. She started to get worried though when Puck and Rachel got up from their table and headed out to the truck. Beth wasn't done eating and Shelby didn't want to rush her, but if the two left, Shelby couldn't keep tabs on them. Thankfully, Puck started his car, but didn't back out. Of course, this quickly turned bad for Shelby as her mind began to wander, thinking of all the bad things the two could be doing.

There was a good five and half minutes before Puck backed out of his parking spot and drove off towards the movie theater. Beth finished up her fries and was working on her chocolate milkshake, when Shelby told her she could drink the rest on the way.

"Awesome." Beth grinned. Shelby didn't let them take any food or drinks into the car often.

Rachel and Puck had decided to see an animated movie as Rachel wasn't interested in any of the war or super hero films that were playing. They got their tickets, popcorn, and drinks and went into the correct screening room, finding a spot in the front of the theater.

"This has been a really great night." Rachel grinned at her boyfriend.

Puck reached over and placed a hand on Rachel's thigh. "It has." He smiled. "It's nice to be able to date without sneaking around behind your parents' backs."

"Yeah." Rachel replied. "And I can't wait until school is over, then we can spend every day together."

"All. Day. Long." Puck accentuated each word with a kiss to Rachel's lips. "I wish you wouldn't be going out of town this weekend."

"Me too."

"If your parents are fighting, why are you still going to New York?" Puck asked.

"Because, my mom claims it was just a little fight and says they'll work it all out once they see each other. And it's my dad's birthday Sunday. And she doesn't want Beth and I to miss out on our first trip to New York. She wants to show us the places she lived while she was growing up here before her family moved to Ohio."

"I'm really going to miss you."

"Me too, but I'll text you all the time." Rachel promised.

The two continued their conversation. Puck was in the middle of telling Rachel about how his mom was going to be working longer hours starting after school was out for summer. It was going to interfere with his pool cleaning job, but Rachel assured him everything would work out. As they talked, Rachel thought she heard a familiar voice, but realized she was also in Lima, a small town where everybody knew each other and secrets didn't stay secrets for long. But the more they talked, the more she heard the voice. Turning around, Rachel saw that Shelby and Beth were sitting just ten rows behind her and Puck.

"Damn it." Rachel hissed.

"What is it?" Puck asked, turning around to see what Rachel was looking at. "Why is your mother and little sister here?"

"I have no idea, but I am going to find out. Stay here." Rachel stomped up to her mom and little sister, ready to bite their heads off. "Really, mom? Do you not have any trust in me? You are ruining our date, what are you doing here?"

"Beth wanted to see the movie." Shelby blurted out.

Beth's head whipped so hard to look at Shelby, Rachel was sure her head was about to snap off her shoulders. "I did not!" Beth loudly said.

"Mom?" Rachel crossed her arms.

"I was worried, okay?" Shelby replied.

"About what?"

"Beth, though she at first claimed you gave her the condoms and now I know she found them in your room, was playing with them, thinking they were balloons. What were you doing with the condoms? I thought you two weren't having sex."

"We're not!" Rachel hissed. "I got them from Sadie's room. I wasn't planning to use them anytime soon, but I wanted to have them, you know, just in case Puck and I, got adventurous."

"So you're still a…virgin?"

"God, Mom, yes." Rachel replied, highly embarrassed to be having this conversation.

"I am so relieved."

"Great." Rachel said through gritted teeth. "Can I go back to my date now?"

"Sure, of course, I am so sorry, Rachel." Shelby sincerely said. "I should have waited until you got home for us to have this conversation."

"Yeah, that would have been nice."

"Well, you go on and have a good time."

Rachel returned to her seat and told Puck what was going on. Both of them realized they needed to be more careful about their private details they wanted to keep secret, especially when Rachel had a sister like Beth. As the credits began to roll, Rachel looked over her shoulder and saw that her mother and sister were gone.

Rachel shook her head. Beth better be counting her lucky stars that Rachel hadn't killed her yet.


	5. Chapter 5

"Mom!" Rachel shouted from her spot, halfway under her bed. Shelby didn't respond and so she shouted again. "Mom!"

"Rachel, what's with all the shouting?" Shelby asked, walking in from her bedroom.

"My thin red belt, I can't find it." Rachel said, returning to the once organized walk in closet to look one last time just in case she missed it before.

"I haven't seen it. You're going to have to pack another one."

"I can't just pack another one." Rachel scoffed."It's the only belt that goes with my navy and white stripped dress."

Shelby stood outside Rachel's closet, her jaw nearly dropping at the mess before her. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. She knew she should have sat in and watched Rachel pack, of course, she should have made Rachel start packing the night before after getting home from her date with Puck. This always happened when Rachel was left to pack by herself.

"Maybe you'll find it while you clean up in here."

"I'll clean it when we come back."

"Or I can call your grandmother and she can come over here and help you clean up while your sister and I are in New York."

"You wouldn't!" Rachel gasped.

"Remember a few years ago when I got tickets for us to see Disney on Ice, but I told you, you couldn't go unless you cleaned out the mess from under your bed? Beth enjoyed the show. Did you enjoy spending the night at home with grandma Berry, cleaning underneath your bed?"

"No!" Rachel crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip.

"Then, I guess this will be cleaned before we leave. You have two hours."

Shelby walked out of the room, satisfied by how that had gone. There wasn't an argument and Rachel kept her mouth in check. And Shelby knew that's the way it was going to stay as Rachel really wanted to go to New York. Rachel fussed the first several minutes of cleaning up her closet. After hanging up three shirts, a skirt, and two dresses, Rachel got fed up and wanted to continue packing up her suitcase.

Rachel stood up and tried to walk out of her closet, only her foot got stuck inside a hanger and Rachel fell to the floor, nearly hitting her face against the floor.

"Ow, fuck." Rachel winced, taking the hanger off her foot.

"Rachel Barbra, I heard that!" Shelby called from her bedroom. Seconds later, she appeared at the door. "You know that kind of language is totally unacceptable."

"I'm sorry." Rachel sighed. She just couldn't keep herself out of trouble today. Well, at least until the plane took off, after that, Rachel figured she'd be safe. Her mom couldn't exactly send her home once they were in New York.

"Are you alright?" Shelby asked.

"Yeah." Rachel nodded, getting back to her feet.

"Good, now hurry up and finish cleaning this up. I need you to go down into the basement and get one of the old backpacks for Beth to use as her carryon."

Rachel waited for Shelby to leave the room and poked her head out into the hallway to make sure Shelby had gone back to her room. She closed her bedroom door and went over to the pile of clothes and grabbed an armful and started cramming them under her bed. Sitting on her butt in front of her bed and used her feet to push the clothing as far as she could against the wall. It took five minutes and Rachel's room was finally cleaned up, well the mess was hidden enough. Rachel finished packing and zipped up her bag, leaving it on her bed while she went to get a backpack for Beth.

The basement sort of gave Rachel the creeps and she ran from the stairs to the box of backpacks, grabbing one from the top of the stack. She tossed the bag on Beth's bed and returned to her own room to make sure she had packed everything.

Her clothes were perfectly folded into perfect triangles and separated by category. She made sure she had enough socks, bras, and panties for the weekend and added a couple more just to be on the safe side. She took out the small bag that held her toiletries and checked the list she had written the night before. Shampoo, conditioner, brush, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, hairspray, body wash, and lotion. It was all there. As she replaced the bag into its designated spot, Rachel realized she had forgotten to pack her makeup. She went into the bathroom and started filling her makeup bag with her eyeliner, mascara, lip balm and lip gloss, and foundation. Rachel also tossed in some eye shadow, though she didn't use it often.

Rachel turned off the bathroom light and started to walk down the hallway to her bedroom and realized she had forgotten one last thing. Tampons. She still had not started her period, but was due to start the next day. Normally she felt crampy and bloated by now and just assumed she'd start feeling bad later on in the day, probably by bedtime. She grabbed the box from under the sink and added that and her makeup bag to the suitcase. Now she had everything. She picked up her suitcase and grabbed her purse, having stuffed it with all the things she wanted to take with her on the plane and carried them down stairs, placing them next to the door.

The three Berry ladies arrived to the airport, checking in their suitcases and then making their way through security. When they arrived to their gate, Beth started to get antsy; she didn't like to fly. Rachel rolled her eyes, wishing Beth would get over her anxiety already. It's not like they've never flown before. Hiram, when the girls were younger, often brought his family with him on business trips. And twice a year, the four went on family vacations during summer and winter break. Except this past winter, their flight had been cancelled twice and they ended up staying home.

Shelby decided to take Beth for a walk, leaving Rachel to watch their luggage for a few minutes. The girl didn't mind and was glad she didn't have to listen to Beth whine and complain for awhile. She picked up the magazine Shelby was reading and started to flip through it. For the most part there were just stories of celebrities and other articles she didn't care about. Her eye was caught by an ad for the birth control she was currently on. Having never taken the time to read the side effects of the medication, Rachel found herself reading the small print below the ad. It's not that Rachel didn't care, she just never had any reactions to the pill. And when her cousin had taken her to see a doctor the next county over, the doctor had given her a short list of side effects and none of them had bothered Rachel. Especially when her breasts got a little bigger, she loved that and so did Puck. But, she was still new to the whole birth control thing as Rachel had only started taking it in December and it was now halfway through April.

In the small print, Rachel read that antibiotics can counteract the birth control and she began to freak out. She started to think about all the times they've had sex and just how many chances there were for her to get pregnant. Then of course, Rachel started to think about her symptoms. First, her period hadn't shown up yet, though, Rachel thought to herself, there was still another day or two before she was supposed to start. But that morning when Shelby called her down for breakfast, Rachel nearly threw up at the smell of eggs. It wasn't enough for Rachel to suspect she might be pregnant but the girl was only sixteen. The only things she knew about pregnancy was that it requires sex, after that, Rachel was highly uneducated on the matter. Right now, the only thing Rachel could think was that she was pregnant.

Beth and Shelby returned from their walk and Beth seemed a little calmer, but Shelby knew it wasn't going to last long. As soon as they got on the plane, the ten year old was going to freak. Rachel saw that Beth had gotten a bag of chips and Shelby noticed.

"I didn't know what you wanted, if anything." Shelby reached into her purse and got out her wallet. "Here's my debit card, get yourself something to eat and drink."

Rachel almost said no, but then again, she needed to get a pregnancy test. She wouldn't be able to take it now, but as soon as they got to the hotel, Rachel was going to take the test. She wanted to know whether or not Shelby was going to kill her.

Rachel slung the long strap of her purse across her chest and shoulder and headed to the gift shop. She first got a bottle of water and a packaged sandwich to eat. Then, thinking she looked inconspicuous, Rachel stood near the shelf full of travel sized medicines and toiletries. Spotting some condoms, she mentally kicked herself. Lucy had told her to be doubly careful and use both the birth control and condoms, but Rachel thought she was being stupid and didn't use the condoms after she had been given the pill. Seeing the pregnancy test, sitting right below the hanging box of condoms, Rachel snatched it off the shelf.

Rachel took her finds up to the counter and tried to not focus on the look the cashier was giving her. She paid for the items and walked out of the shop. She found a garbage can a few feet away. She opened the pregnancy test and tossed the bag into the trash and shoved the pregnancy test and instructions in her purse. She returned to her seat, handing Shelby her credit card.

"I'm glad you got something more substantial than chips, you hardly ate any breakfast." Shelby said, tucking Rachel's hair behind her shoulder to keep it out of her food.

It was close to dinner time when the girls arrived to the hotel in New York. Hiram had texted Shelby with the number to the hotel and his room number in case she needed to call him and couldn't get a hold of him on his cell. Shelby managed to get a room across the hall and two doors down from Hiram's. She was a bit uncomfortable having Rachel and Beth's room not being next door, but knew everything would be okay. The girls would only really be in their room to sleep and change their clothes and besides, Shelby thought to give the girls an extra room key to her and Hiram's room in case they needed anything in the middle of the night. It would all be okay.

Hiram was in a meeting for another hour or so and Shelby was glad they didn't have to sneak around and not get caught by Hiram before they could surprise him. It had been Beth's job to come up with a way to surprise Hiram while they were on the plane. Shelby was right when she thought it might keep Beth from panicking during the flight. Beth wanted to wait until Hiram had returned to his room and then they'd knock. She also wanted them to be in their swimsuits so they could go swimming for awhile before it got too late and they had to go to bed. And while they waited for Hiram's text, saying he was out of his meeting, the three girls went to get something to eat for dinner as Hiram was eating during his meeting.

By the time they finished eating, which was a little of an hour later, Hiram still was not done with his meeting. Shelby unlocked Rachel and Beth's hotel room, telling the girls to unpack their suitcases so their clothes wouldn't get wrinkly. Shelby sat on the bed and found something for them to watch while the waited on Hiram.

Rachel stacked all of her clothes into two of the dresser drawers and shoved her purse into the third drawer, leaving the other three drawers for Beth to use. The only thing left in her suitcase was her pillow and Shelby's blanket. She had used the straps of the suitcase to keep the pillow a bit more squished and it fit perfectly underneath all of her clothes.

Rachel turned and faced her mother, tossing the pillow at her mother, hitting her in the face. Rachel and Beth broke out in laughter, seeing the way her hair blew around her head and the shocked look on Shelby's face. Shelby narrowed her eyes at Rachel and smirked as she picked up the pillow to throw it back at Rachel.

A piece of paper fell out of the pillow case and Shelby picked it up. Normally she wouldn't have read any of Rachel's things, but she noticed the letter was addressed to Hiram and it wasn't in a handwriting that was familiar to Shelby.

"Rachel, where did you get this?" Shelby asked, glancing up at her daughter. Rachel was stuck like a deer in headlights, her eyes wide and afraid. Shelby couldn't help but notice that Beth had pretty much the same look on her face.

"Mom, I'm sorry, I know I should have told you when I found out. I was just so scared and I didn't know what to do." Rachel blurted out.

Shelby turned her attention back to the letter and started to read. Shelby was all sorts of things right now, but mostly she was furious and hurt. For almost eight months, Hiram had been cheating on her. With his co-worker. His male co-worker. Now Shelby understood why it had been over a year since her and Hiram had been intimate.

"When did you find this?" Shelby asked, dropping the note on the bed. She didn't want to look at it anymore.

"About two months ago, after I had walked in on Dad and Leroy kissing." Rachel quietly said.

"You saw them together?" Shelby whispered. "When?"

"The day you made me stay home from school when I was sick. You didn't tell dad that I was home and he brought Leroy over during their lunch. Before you came to get me for the doctor's, I went through his filing cabinet in his room and found some pictures and stuff."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know what to do. I learned my father cared more about spending a weekend with his boyfriend than going to my cheer competition. He never had a business meeting, he just wanted a weekend away with Leroy." Rachel said, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Dad has been so distant the last several months and when I figured out why, I didn't know what to do or think. And the only thing I could feel was anger towards him. I didn't know what to do mom, how was I suppose to break it to you? I didn't want to be the cause of your marriage and our family being destroyed."

"Don't be mad at Rachel." Beth said, interrupting. "I knew too and I didn't tell you."

"Because I told you not to tell." Rachel pointed out. "I really am sorry mom."

Shelby felt betrayed by her oldest daughter. She kept this secret from her and made Beth promise not to tell either. Shelby wanted to cry. She wanted to curl up into a ball and cry and scream. But she couldn't. Not in front of her children. They put on brave faces for weeks and Shelby needed to the same. It wasn't a secret that things were about to change and that Hiram probably wasn't returning to the house anytime soon.

An eerie silence fell over the room when Shelby's phone started to ring, blaring Shelby and Hiram's wedding song. Shelby scoffed at the music and answered the phone.

"Hello." Shelby answered, remaining as calm as she possibly could.

"Hi, baby. What are you doing? How are the girls?" Hiram greeted, not knowing a shit storm was coming his way.

"I'm just sitting here, watching tv with the girls. What are you doing?"

"I'm walking into the lobby of the hotel, my meeting went great."

"That's good." Shelby replied. "What are you going to do the rest of the night? Have any plans?"

"No, probably going to watch a movie."

"Oh."

"Well, I am getting into the elevator and I will probably lose you. I will call you around bedtime, alright?"

"Sure." Shelby replied.

"I love you, bye."

"Bye." Shelby replied and hung up the phone. "Rachel, I want you and Beth to get your swimsuits and get changed. And then, you two can go hang down at the pool for a bit. I will be down there when I am done talking with your dad. Beth, you need to stay in the shallow end, Rachel stay with her."

"Okay." The girls said, scrambling to the dresser to get their suits.

Shelby thought for a moment and then stopped the girls. "Before you get dressed, you guys can see your dad. I am not sure when you'll see him next, it depends on the choices he makes."

"Are you and daddy getting a divorce?" Beth asked, holding her one piece suit in her hand.

"Beth, I don't know what is going to happen." Shelby honestly said. "I don't want you to worry about that right now, okay. Just have fun with your sister in the pool and when I come down we will play basketball in the water like you wanted too."

"Yeah?" Beth excitedly replied.

"Yup." Shelby smiled down at her child. "Now, go into the bathroom and get two towels."

Shelby waited until Beth was out of the room and turned to Rachel, patting the bed beside her.

"Mom-"

"-We will talk about it later, Rachel." Shelby said. "I need you to watch Beth closely while you two are in the pool. This is very important."

"I will."

"Thank you." Shelby kissed Rachel's head.

Beth came out of the bathroom, giving a towel to Rachel. A few minutes later, the three left the room and went to Hiram's room and Beth knocked on the door. It was quite an uncomfortable moment for all of them, considering what was going on. Beth and Rachel knew a fight was about to happen as soon as their parents were alone.

Hiram opened the door and was surprised to see his family standing outside the door.

"Oh my god, what are you doing here?" Hiram smiled.

"Well, we thought since you weren't going to be home for your birthday, we would come and stay for the weekend and celebrate." Shelby said, gently pushing the girls into the room.

"That's really sweet of you." Hiram nervously said. "But I don't know if that was such a good idea. I mean, I, um, I'm kind of busy."

"Are you?" Shelby slightly sneered. "Well don't worry, we won't keep you for very long. The girls wanted to say hi to you before they went swimming."

"Hi." Rachel half-heartedly waved.

Beth didn't say anything but waved to her dad.

"Hi girls." Hiram smiled. "So, uh, swimming. That sounds like fun. Why don't the four of us go down to the pool?"

"I don't think so Hiram. You and I need to talk." Shelby said. "Rachel, Beth, go on and get changed. I'll give you some money to get some drinks from the vending machine before you go."

Shelby watched as Beth and Shelby left to go to the other room and change. She then turned to Hiram and unfolded the note she had grabbed off the bed.

"Shelby, what's-"

"How could you?" Shelby snapped. "If you didn't want to be with me anymore, you should have said so. But to cheat on me? That's just despicable. And in our own home? With our daughter upstairs?"

"I didn't know she was home." Hiram defended.

"It doesn't matter! You brought the man you are dating behind my back to our home! That is not okay!"

Their argument was interrupted by Rachel knocking on the door before using the keycard to unlock the door.

"Mom, Beth fell in the bathroom and hit her knee. She wants you." Rachel said, hoping she wouldn't get in trouble for walking into the room.

"Alright, use the bathroom in here to get dressed." Shelby said, seeing Rachel had yet to change.

Rachel handed her mother the keycard to the room Beth was in and then slipped into the bathroom. She had her purse with her, thinking she'd use the bathroom down in the pool area to take the pregnancy test. Now she figured she'd take this chance to take the test. Between stressing out about her parents and not knowing if she was pregnant or not, Rachel needed some answers and she was only going to get answers from the pregnancy test at the moment.

After taking the test, Rachel sat the stick on the counter and got changed into her swimsuit while she waited the three minutes for the test to work. She got a hair tie from her purse and put her hair up into a ponytail. Rachel picked up her phone and checked the time. She had a minute left.

And it was the longest minute of her life. But, in the end it was worth it when she read the negative result. Tears sprang to her eyes and all Rachel could do was smile. She tossed the test into the trashcan and grabbed her things before exiting the bathroom.

Shelby and Beth were waiting for Rachel and Shelby sent the girls on their way with a few dollars for the vending machine. Once the girls were gone, Shelby went into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later, after collecting her thoughts on how to handle the talk with Hiram. She didn't want to yell anymore. She wanted to know if Hiram wanted to be with her or Leroy and then decide where to go from there.

Hiram was sitting on the bed when Shelby finally emerged from the bathroom.

"I don't want to fight." Shelby said, leaning against the wall.

"Me either." Hiram said, bowing his head into his hands.

"What is it that you want Hiram? You have to decide. It's either him or us."

"And the girls? What about them, are you going to keep them from me?"

"No, I would never do that." Shelby said. "We will figure out a custody arrangement that works for us but just remember, Rachel is old enough to decide if she wants to see you or not. I am not going to force her to do anything she doesn't want too."

"Okay." Hiram gently nodded.

Shelby felt it in the pit of her stomach. She just needed Hiram to say the words. "So, I guess this is it between us? You're going to be with Leroy, aren't you?"

"I love him, Shelb." Hiram said, looking up at his wife. He could see the sadness and tears welling up in her eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I love you too, but I am attracted to him. I've been attracted to him for almost two years now."

"If that's what you wanted, you should have said so when you and Leroy started seeing each other. You have been going behind my back and missing out on your children's lives for this man and blaming it on work. Hiram, you have lied so much."

"I know and I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Shelby's voice raised. "You don't understand!"

"No, you don't understand!" Hiram said. "I am ashamed of what I have done to you and to my kids. I hate myself for the things I have done, but I was too embarrassed to tell you that I had fallen in love with another man."

Shelby didn't say anything and it hurt Hiram. He needed Shelby to understand but she couldn't. He stood up from the bed and ran into the bathroom. Shelby needed her time earlier, now he needed his. Shelby sat down on the bed, the note sat beside her. She picked it up and read the rest of the letter. She thought it might help her understand whatever it was that Hiram needed too, but it only ended up pissing her off once again.

Her anger didn't get any better once Hiram came out of the bathroom, holding a pregnancy test.

"And you want to bitch at me for cheating? Obviously you have some explaining to do."

"What the hell are you talking about? Let me remind you that I've had to take care of business on my own for over a year." Shelby shot.

"You've been sleeping with someone, here's the proof." He said, holding up the test so Shelby could see.

Shelby's brows drew close together. What was Hiram talking about? She had never cheated on him or ever thought about cheating. And a pregnancy test? They had not been intimate for at least fourteen months, maybe closer to sixteen.

God it's been so long, Shelby thought to herself.

"Hiram, unlike you, I took our marriage seriously and didn't stray." Shelby replied.

"Then whose pregnancy test is it?" Hiram questioned. "Because it wasn't in the bathroom when I checked in and the only ones who have used the bathroom are you, me, and Rachel."

Rachel.

Shelby snatched the pregnancy test from the bed, gripping it in her fist. She told Hiram she'd be right back and stormed out of their hotel room and went down to the pool, where only Rachel and Beth were.

Rachel turned and looked at the door that had slammed shut and she saw her mother. Shelby was fuming and at first Rachel thought it was because of the fight with her dad but when she saw the white stick in Shelby's hand, Rachel moved away from the edge of the pool where her mother couldn't get her.

"Oh no." Rachel whispered to herself.

"Get out of the water, Rachel." Shelby narrowed her eyes.

"Not until you calm down." Rachel said.

"Rachel, this is as calm as I am going to get."


End file.
